Bravo's Kid
by Recklis
Summary: A misunderstanding leads to trouble with the brothers. Sometimes what you see, isn't what it means and the innocent pays the price. Clay trying to help someone leads to more trouble than he bargained for...with his team.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first attempt at Seal Team fanfiction. Please review and be kind ;) As with most shows I watch, if the fanfiction is good, I will give it a try on TV, lol. I'm a words first, visual second type of person. PS-This story will be OC. These guys will never behave this way on canon because DISCLAIMER* I DON'T OWN THEM. Also, no Beta, so all mistakes are my own. And it will be in different perspectives so you get the whole story/idea when it does come together. I hope:P_

**BRAVOS' KID**

1

He sat slumped in a corner, eyes half-mast and lazily drifting over the chaos around him. Glass littered the floor, heat rushing in from where windows should be. Half the walls weren't standing, but the one he leaned on, somehow supported his weight without tipping over. His ears were ringing, pulse throbbing at his temples, stomach clenched tightly along with his jaw, and the distant wail of sirens barely registering as he fought the encroaching darkness. Sticky wetness dripped steadily down his face, mixed with dust and grime, spattered his neckline and dribbled unevenly, soaking into the fabric of his shirt. Limp hands twitched, but made no move to swipe at it. He was there, not here. Shouldn't be here at all. Someone was gonna be pissed. At him. Again. Or something. He listed to the side. Couldn't straighten if he tried. Panted, or gasped, ribs shifting and rubbing against each other. The wall he'd hit was barely ten bricks high now.

The wall deserved it.

It hurt to breathe, would hurt more if he didn't manage to quell his nausea. Wished he knew what he was doing there. On the floor, sitting on broken glass. Wished he knew why he was worried that someone was mad at him.

"Hey! HEY! Kid, come on." The gruff voice only managed to confuse him further. He didn't know who owned it. Wasn't one he cared for.

Who's kid was he looking for? His own? He hadn't seen any kids around, well not that high up anyway.

A sting on his left cheek roused him slightly. Didn't do much else. Brows furrowed, he sought out the wavering figure washed in a halo of bright. Or was it light?

"Come on, don't do this. Look at me." Rough hands grabbed at his chin, tilted his head upwards, one hand on his shoulder, keeping him from hitting the ground.

"Bravo one is gonna kill me anything happens to you."

Bravo…he supposed he was familiar with that word. It kinda felt safe. He blinked. Drooled, because swallowing was too hard, a mixture of spit and blood joining the spatter party on his tac vest. Bravo triggered something in his mushy brain.

"Boss?" There was something he needed to do. Go high? He followed the order, got high. Was that why he felt so out of it? Was he high?

"High." He stated.

The warped person in front of him cursed softly, gentled his hold. "Yeah kid, you went high."

The voice faded, came back louder.

Bravo was definitely gonna kill him. Matt was Bravo support. Gunfight in the street below and Master Chief Hayes had given the order for Clay to go high. It was his job to follow, make sure he covered for him. Kid was almost done climbing the first flight of stairs before he saw him move. Matt had followed as quickly as he could. He barely heard two shots before the boom. It happened so fast.

Wasn't in time to do anything but stare at debris. It took Matt a few precious seconds to realize that there was actually sound in the room. A sawing, wheezy, unhealthy sound. He landed on his knees in front of Clay, could feel the butt of the kid's sniper rifle against his thigh, but his hands made no move towards it, holding on to Bravo's special cargo instead. The blast came from up high too. Grenade from the building across. There weren't much spaces between the buildings, narrow alleys and all. It took a chunk out of the building he was in, blew a piece of the roof off and almost the whole kid too, all before he made it up the last stair. He bet someone had eyes on Clay and decided to eliminate the threat he posed before he could cause any more damage. Clay had raced towards his vantage point ticking off tangos and clearing Bravo's path with precision after he'd been told to go high. He was headed for the roof, probably stopped when he saw the grenade. Whoever it was across the road was dead, half his body hanging out if the window, head blown in half. Matt had been on his tail, been told to back him up, keep watch. But he'd been too late. All he'd felt was the shudder of the room as it thundered and crashed around Clay. Kid probably made the decision to divert his aim. Had the grenade gone down as intended, Bravo would have been down to two.

"Six! Sitrep!" Hayes barked through the coms.

Matt swore when the befuddled Seal heard the request and furrowed his brows, eyes tracking the carnage, looking for the six on the ground instead of responding on com. Found nothing but rubble and grit, ash and smoke. Blinked. Blinked a moment longer. Shut his eyes and didn't open them again.

"Six is down. Require assist. Medical evac. Repeat, Six is down." Matt answered for him.

Lucid for barely a moment before darkness claimed him, Clay remembered that he'd supposed to be clearing the street for his team. He still needed to, tried, but his body bid against him, finally shutting down. As Clay sank into the abyss, lucidity passed, he wondered why he was afraid. Maybe because he was here…Should have been there…Somewhere else, and someone was gonna be pissed. No, he was afraid because his brothers already were…

The moment Matt answered, all five were on the move. Ray picked off a gunman turning at the entrance of the building before he was at Jason's heels, Trent having already made it in. Sonny had gone wild, firing blind until all fire ceased. Brock pulled the Texan roughly away from the open street and into the alley. No return gunfire, thank goodness. Each step was a mile long for the members of Bravo. Each brother praying for the best while fearing the worst. There would be no forgiveness if the kid didn't make it out alive. Hell, there would be no more Bravo…

Their support team kept the road clear, Blackburn and Davis barking orders at control to have a chopper ready for transport. Most of the roof was still intact. Small miracle, but they'd take it.

Jason could only think of one thing as he shoved past Ray and skid to a stop beside Trent, heart in his throat as he eyed the limp figure in front of him. They could not lose the kid. Not now. Not like this.


	2. Chapter 2

2

About a month earlier…

Ray saw something first.

He wasn't sure exactly what he was seeing, but it made him frown. They were home for the weekend, chilling in Jason's back yard. All the guys were relaxed, drinking, laughing, sharing stories. Jason's eldest, Emma came home, popped her head through the door in greeting, waved at her father and disappeared inside again. A few minutes later Mikey did the same, only he came out and sat next to the man. Jason clapped him on the back, handed him the bowl of chips and grinned at Sonny, who tried in vain to change his usual swearing while telling his story.

"Dam…darn horse kicked out and Joey ran like a bi…each ball screaming all the way down the driveway. Landed on his a*…ah, butt right before he passed out. Never went near a horse again."

Brock laughed out loud, pulled the water bowl closer to Cerb and leaned back, still shaking his head. All grown men, afraid of nothing, but set them up in front of kids and they all turn to mush.

Only Clay wasn't paying them any attention. Was too busy texting to do that. Their youngest brother had been having a rough time of it lately. First Stella and him hit a rocky patch that refused to smooth out, then Ash and his damned book, with interviews that threw hints of having an inside man give him sensitive information to use in it. Kid was injured, then on med leave, and then concussed again on his first day back and then took two in the vest so Cerb wouldn't have to on the next mission. Yeah, he had the luck of a leprechaun, managing to find himself in the worst of situations and somehow making it through. Still, it made him wonder, because outside of the team, Clay didn't have much else going for him in the way of friends, and he hadn't mentioned a girlfriend yet. So who was he furiously texting?

Sonny was at it again. Man had so many stories he could be a book store. Ray let his eyes roll across his team, Brock trying to laugh around a mouthful of peanuts, Trent, elbow on his knees, chuckling at their antics and Jason, mid grin, pulls out his own phone, draws his brows together and nods instead of replying. Clay gets up to use the toilet. Ray finds it odd that he casts them furtive glances while walking away. He notices that the kid's eyes linger on Jason for just a second too long, but when he turns to his Boss, Jason is looking ahead seemingly engrossed in Sonny's tale. None of the guys are aware of anything out of the ordinary, they're too relaxed and focused on Sonny reenacting some funny scene with an empty can and a bag of pretzels. Ten minutes later, kid's not back. Yeah he could be taking a crap, but Ray doesn't think so.

"Need to call Naima." Ray stood, pulled out his phone and stepped away from the team. As usual, no one questioned him. His gaze flickered to the window, found Clay whisper yelling at the passage, throwing his hands in the air. He paused, held his breath, waited. Sure enough, Emma comes into view. Shoves him hard. Clay grabs her wrists and pulls her to his chest. Forces her to stay there while he mumbles in her ear. She freezes, and Ray does too.

Ray knows it's wrong.

This is Bravo one's daughter and Spenser is their brother. He's a helluva lot younger than them, but still much too mature for an eighteen year old. He's about to call out when Emma pushes Clay away and heads for the door, roughly swiping at her eyes. Ray sighs in relief, and then feels his anger mount. Clay made her cry.

He's watched this little girl grow into a young woman, and he won't tolerate anyone taking advantage of her, Clay Spenser included. He doesn't know what to make of this. Wants to smash the kids face in for forcing Emma into his hold, for bringing her to tears.

Wants to tell Jason.

Maybe let him do it.

He isn't sure he can trust himself around Spenser right now. Isn't sure if this Spenser is the one he knows. It can't be the one he trusts to have his back in the field. All of their backs. Not when he scared Jason Hayes's daughter like that…right under their noses.

Emma draws in a deep breath, steadies herself, turns back to Clay, but he's already disappeared somewhere. She sags in relief and sits down at the table, pulls out her cell and briskly type something in. Then she drops her head on her folded hands and stares silently at the fridge. Ray turns in time to see Jason reads another text, curse and tuck his phone away. Sonny gets a call. Spenser had to leave in a hurry. Friend's car broke down.

Ray calls bullshit.

Sonny backs his thought up with a statement. "Thought we was all the friends he had."

They all knew that the team was his life. His family. Ray lets it go for now but watches Jason slowly rise up from his seat. Maybe Emma told him to come inside…Damned Spenser.

"Everything okay, Jase?" Ray asks, concerned at the look in his eyes. Brock and Mikey are petting the dog while Sonny and Trent toss another big log into the fire pit. All of them watch it ignite.

His best friend sighs tiredly. Looks lost for a minute. Ray gives him time to gather his thoughts. Jason's had a rough time of it after losing Alana, but he's been doing the best he can. Between work, team and home, he's managed to hold it together pretty well. Naima helps where she can. Jason's mom does too. But sometimes things can become too much, even for the great Jason Hayes..

"Emma hasn't been herself lately. Just going to make sure she's okay." He finally says.

And Ray wants to yell that it's their rookie who made it so.

It's on the tip of Ray's tongue to rat Spenser out, but maybe Emma will do that instead and tell her father the truth. He nods. Whatever Jason chooses to do with that information when he finds out, he'll back him up. They voted Spenser in, they can toss his ass back out if he screws up that way. No one could question their loyalty to Jase.

"Naima and the kids okay?" Jason asks distractedly. Ray falters for a second, remembers he was supposed to call her. Fiddles with the phone in his hand. Answers, but Jase's attention is focused on his little girl inside. He's already walking towards the door. Ray has a million things running through his head. All of them revolve around their rookie.

Two days later, he pops in to drop off some stuff Naima had kept aside for Emma. Thought he'd see Jason as well, see how things were going. Finds his jaw hitting the ground as Clay pulls out of the driveway with Emma in the car. Jase is at the door, eyebrows drawn together.

"Everything alright?" Ray asks as he reaches the door.

"Yeah, uh, we ran out of milk for cereal. Em forgot to add it to the shopping list. They just went to get some."

"Why'd the kid get here so early? We're not due on base until tomorrow." There'd been times when Clay and Jason arrived together at base, but most times Jase had gone to pick him up. If the kid's car was working, what the hell was he doing here?

"He stayed over last night." Jason let Ray in, went to pour them both coffee.

"He sick? Thanks." Ray took the coffee, had a sip, burned his lip and grimaced.

"Nope. They sprayed his apartment. He crashed here."

"Emma okay?" Ray asked, when Jason wasn't more forthcoming.

"She's getting there."

For the first time in a long time, Ray found himself on a different page with his best friend. Either Jason suspected something was up with Clay and Emma and was dealing with it, or Clay really had the wool pulled over his eyes.

Jason already had too much on his plate, so Ray decided to let it go for now. He would get to the bottom of this, just not today.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Trent notices something is off with Clay, but he can't quite put a finger on it. The last few weeks the kid's been scarce. He has dark circles under his eyes, looks perpetually exhausted and hardly ever speaks to any of them unless its work related. Even Sonny can't get a rise out of him. And he tried. No amount of cajoling has made any difference. He smirks, or smiles and brushes Sonny off but without the regular snark and witty responses they'd gotten used to. Trent thinks he may be coming down with something, maybe has been quietly fighting off a cold. He was secretly glad they hadn't been spun on any long ops in the meanwhile. They mostly worked off base, training and training other teams, running hills, going to gym, small day jobs. Jase had told them that he'd spoken to Blackburn about giving them some catch up time. Hell, Jason looked as if he needed it too. They'd been on the go for months and all the guys were glad for the breather.

He changes his mind when he sees the texts.

Clay is in the shower. His phone is on a chair, under his T shirt, on vibrate. And it won't stop vibrating. He goes to silence it and sees the first one pop up before becoming a notification. Then the next and the next…

"I can't do this anymore."

"It hurts. Dad's gonna be pissed."

A few beats later it starts again. As if they're replies to messages sent earlier.

"He's your boss. Let it go, please. Let me go."

"Clay, he's really gonna kill you when he finds out what you're doing."

"I'm serious. It has to stop. Live your life and let me live mine."

They're all from Emma.

Jason's daughter Emma.

Trent wonders what the hell is going on, he doesn't have any idea what this is about, nor should he, because he had no business nosing about on a teammate's privacy. It still makes him mad. Clay is their brother. What is he doing with his Boss's daughter that has her so afraid, so desperate for it to stop. What had their rookie involved her in? He was loath to leave the phone aside, curious as to the messages that came before this, that had prompted these responses, but he knew better than to open them. But then Clay would know that someone had looked, and if there was something going on that was untoward, Spenser would just be more cautious and cover himself better. If Jason found out…Kid would be off the team for sure. Bravo one wouldn't allow him to operate after hurting his only daughter. He couldn't go to Jase with only half the story, couldn't dig up the rest without risking getting caught. He thought maybe he could run it by Ray without giving too much up, see what he made of it.

He did just that.

"You got a second?" He asked Jason's 2IC.

"Yeah, sure." Ray put his book aside and sat up straight. They were on base, lunchtime. Took a few minutes for themselves.

Trent wasn't much of a speaker on the best of days. He did, however, say what he needed to when it was necessary. Now was one of those times.

"Um…I saw something I shouldn't have." He began, hesitated, guilty but determined to understand if he may have made a mistake.

"Something like…" Ray pushed.

"Messages. They were texts. I shouldn't have read them, but after the first and second one I couldn't stop myself." Trent scrubbed a hand through his hair, swiped at his face. "Jason's gonna be pissed he finds out. I mean, the kid. His kid…"

And then Ray put the pieces together. Brock and Sonny were getting something to eat. Jason was with Eric. Spencer had hit the showers…

"Were they on Clay's phone?"

Trent nodded.

"From Emma…" Ray surmised, and Trent's head shot up.

"Did I miss something?"

So Ray told him what he'd seen that night a few weeks back at Jase's and then again a couple days later. Trent told him about the texts. Both incidents were worrisome and worse, because Emma was Jason Hayes's daughter. If Clay was a cause of the trouble she was having…He felt his blood boil. If Jason knew he wasn't sharing, and if he didn't, should they even bring it up without knowing more?

How dare Spenser do that?

They trusted the kid. On the field and off. Now Trent wasn't so sure he knew his brother like he thought he did. Was it even his brother?

They'd all been wary of the mouthy youngster when he first joined the team, but slowly, he'd won them all over. After they lost Nate, they didn't want to get that close to another brother, didn't want to replace him, but the kid brought them together in a different way. Unsure of where they stood now, he, for a brief moment, cursed Ash Spenser's genes for being so dominant.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Sonny tried to get his blonde kid out of the funk he was in but to no avail. They were supposed to be friends, best friends, but Goldilocks here was just too busy being a damsel. His girly mood-swings were pissing Sonny off. Sonny couldn't remember if Clay mentioned a girlfriend, but his behavior of late suggested that there was a female in the picture. Heck he had no problem with the kid spending his time bed hopping. He'd done it too. Would still be doing it if he wasn't crushing so hard on Davis and trying to prove he was half decent to her. But Clay hadn't mentioned anything to him, and was evasive when he asked, touchy even. Sonny had had enough, and decided to just go over to his place in the hopes that he could get some answers. He hated distance between brothers. It made him feel uneasy.

"Son of a monkey, he better have a damned good excuse for ignoring me tonight!"

After all three calls went unanswered, Sonny, still grousing and irritated, decided to just blast in like he usually did because Spenser was a brat and he needed his buddy at the bar to answer his questions tonight. He parked at the bar a block away from Clay's apartment thinking he could persuade the kid to join him, and if they happen to get hammered, then it wouldn't be far to walk back. They could both crash for the night and he could get his bike in the morning before leaving for base. It was a late start anyway. As he rounded the corner, he froze.

Clay had Emma by the shoulders, pushing her towards his car. She was resisting, futilely, and he was mad enough to make her stumble. Emma yanked on his wrists. Clay stopped, muttered what looked to be an apology into her ear, turned her, pulled her to his chest, then kissed the top of her head. Whatever he told her at that point, she didn't like it. She pushed away, he held fast. She shoved him, took a few steps backwards and started to walk away briskly. He ran the few steps, caught up with her, slung an arm around her waist and still talking into her ear, steered her back to his car. Emma hesitated, at the door, and then finally sat down. There was a long moment where the both of them started straight head at the road, then a heated conversation began, both gesticulating wildly. Clay slammed his hands on the steering wheel, making the whole car shudder. Emma turned away from him and he pulled out of the parking space, tires squealing as he took off like an animal with her inside. It left Sonny stupidly staring at their tail lights from the ends of the street having done nothing but gape at the whole display. He'd been too shocked to react. In hindsight, he should have. Should have intervened and asked him what the hell was going on. Should have smacked the little shit upside the head, them beat him six ways to Sunday. He just messed with a Hayes.

It was Clay, dammit!

Being rough, and overly causal at the same time with…Emma?

Jason's Emma?

Shit!

Sonny changed his mind. No, he was gonna kill the little asshole.

Right after he had a drink.

The other option was Jason telling Jason and letting Bravo one kill him, and for that, Sonny would gladly hold the pansy ass down while he got his ass handed to him.

Emma called him Uncle Sonny. That made her family. That made her off limits that way to any one of the team, and friend or no friend, Clay had crossed that line without even blinking.

He didn't manage to get a moment to speak to Clay back on base the next day. Jason had split them up, and by the time he and Brock made it back after lunch, Spenser had hit the showers already. Waiting to get to the bottom if things, he'd walked in on Ray and Trent hashing out the same, or similar shit about Clay.

Nah, kid don't mess with the trust of the team and hide behind them from Jason. Sonny was going to break heads. Starting with a blonde one…

(Sorry for the messy uploads...still learning here. I appreciate your patience and support xxx Thank you for all the awesomeness.)


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about the last few horrid updates...Gremlins got me :P Thank you for your patience as I figure this out xxx

Ps. This fic is OC, so if your favorite characters aren't behaving right...my dog made me do it :)

5

Clay dropped his bag on the ground and Brock tossed him a bottle of water.

"Thanks, needed that." Cerberus let his head drop on Clay's knees and he petted the dog one handed while he drank.

"Tough workout?" Brock laughed. When it came to running, no one loved it more than Clay.

Clay wiped swiped at his mouth to catch the moisture and chuckled. "I swear someone piled sand on those hills."

Brock had heard some things about their rookie lately and he wasn't one to jump the bandwagon without all the facts. He'd walked into their bunker with Sonny to find Ray and Trent talking about Clay. He caught the tail end of Ray saying he saw Clay roughly handling the girl, then Trent saying something about texts that made him uneasy, and then Sonny kicked the trashcan so hard it left a sizeable dent in it. Brock had mixed feeling about the whole thing, especially since Sonny also saw him with Emma, and what he described was not funny at all. Jason was with Clay by then. He checked.

Kid had just finished his shower and gone to grab a meal. Jase was still at the table, so either he was a really good actor to get one over Jase or their boss was too close to them as a team to see the problem everyone else had noticed. Or the third option was that he knew something was up and kept the kid close to watch him…

Which was why, Brock decided, that he should ask first, shoot later.

So he asked Clay what was going on and waited for an explanation.

Only, he didn't expect the response he got. Maybe it was what he asked…

'What's going on with you kid? Guys seem mad, and you're always tired, avoiding…"

"It's got nothing to do with you. Any of you."

"I just wanna help, kid." Brock told him honestly.

Clay scoffed. "I don't need help. Everyone should mind their own damned business. You think I haven't noticed the guys glaring at me like I pissed in their shoes?" Clay stood up, paced, scrubbed at his beard. "Think I miss the words they throw at me? The whispers when they think I'm not around? Ray answering me like I have two heads? Huh? I thought I had attitude…Think I don't notice Trent keeping his distance, staring at me like I have some disease he doesn't want to cure? Think Sonny loses his balance every time he passes by and shoves me to the side?"

"Clay…"

Cay deflated, and Brock was never happier that he wasn't a man of many words. Kid needed to speak. There was frustration there. Disbelief…And a world of hurt. He could feel it coming off his brother in waves.

"The last couple days I'm just glad Jason keeps us split up." Clay said softly, and hearing that gave Brock a heavy feeling in his chest. They were brothers…Kid should never feel like he couldn't be around them.

"I don't know what they think they know, but they're wrong." Clay looked up with red rimmed eyes, bangs falling over his forehead, looking all of sixteen.

"They saw you with hands on Em." Brock filled in.

Clay's hands met at the back of his neck, the sound that followed was pained. "It's not what it looks like." Clay offered after beat. His voice was barely a whisper. Silence stretched between them. Cerb whined, not liking the tension.

"Then why didn't you set them straight?" Brock asked finally.

"It's not my place to tell." Clay shrugged. "Hurts that they believed the worst in me though. Thanks for asking, Brock." Clay smiled bitterly. "Thought the team was all the family we need. Guess I'm not a part of it huh?" Kid walked away without looking back.

A little while later they were called for a read in on a mission. They left that same night, never having resolved anything.

And Clay hadn't denied being with Emma…

Brock found his brothers to one side of the C-17, Clay nowhere near them. He didn't blame the kid. Brock was nothing if not observant. What Clay told him earlier was true. The guys had been giving him a hard time since they all came to the same conclusion-that Clay was messing with Jason's daughter, was borderline abusive towards her and he needed to be put in his place.

Usually, he wouldn't disagree. Any man treating any woman that way should be put in his place. Just…The kid didn't seem like the type to do that, and second, he seemed truly hurt that they'd ruled him out already. Judged by the jury and executed before he could defend himself. He also noticed, that though the guys were just being protective of Jason and his family, Jason himself seemed to be around Clay a lot. He and Spense were either standing off to one side, heads dipped together in serious conversation, or Clay hovered close by when Jason was on the phone, and Jason did the same when Clay was on the phone. Clay had hitched a ride back and forth with their Boss more often these days, and to the guys who were riled right now, it may have come across as a diversionary tactic on Clay's part. Whatever it was that his brothers had witnessed, that had thrown them into a tailspin, they were wrong to assume that Jason had no idea what was going on. It was safe to say, in Brock's mind, that they were in it together, whatever the hell it was.

He was the one variable who had seen nothing of what they described, so he remained impartial to both sides.

"Think maybe we should clear the air before we get our asses killed on the field?" Brock asked Trent.

The medic scoffed, rolled his eyes and gestured to the Ray and Sonny. "Got our backs covered."

"What about the kid?" He asked. Saw Sonny tense, his face turn red. Ray sat up, leaned forward.

"What about him? He wants to play dirty then he shouldn't cry about the mess he's in." Sonny spat irritably.

Brock ignored that.

"Did any of you speak to him?" Speak to Jason?" He pushed. "Find out what's going on?" Three heads turned away.

"Eyes don't lie." Ray told him. "I saw what I saw. Sonny and Trent too. If anything, he should have explained himself to us once he knew we knew. Else he deserves to wallow in it by himself."

"Really? Brothers behaving like this? Think I'd have chosen to wallow by myself too…" Brock picked up a bottle of water, Cerb's collapsible bowl and gestured to the other side of the plane before walking off.

They found Jason saying something quietly to Clay. Kid was facing away from them, but Jase had a hand on his leg, and then he lifted his head, fixed his eyes on them and ate up the distance before Brock could pour their canine brother a drink.


	6. Chapter 6

6

Blackburn, noticing the sour faces and general lack of camaraderie between the guys while being read in, asked Jason if everything was alright. They were usually tight, but today, they looked all ready to pounce. Not on each other, but on their youngest member. The more the kid hung near Jason, the angrier they seemed. By the time they were wheels up, Clay was in his hammock, the plane having taken off with him already fast asleep, but their icy stares wouldn't come to an end, and it made even the Commander wince.

Jason nodded. "There's a slight misunderstanding. I'll sort it out on the way back."

"You should sort it out now. They go in like this, you're coming him with a few missing team mates." Eric warned. Davis had heard some of what was going on, but even she couldn't make sense of it. Spenser wouldn't be so dumb as to mess around with Jason's daughter, would he?

But then Jason just now said 'misunderstanding', and Bravo one was definitely not one to allow his rookie to date his teenage daughter. So there was a story there somewhere, just jumbled up, and Jason wasn't as unaware as his team thought he was. This needed to be fixed. And soon. Else there was going to be trouble with his best Tier one team. The way they were glaring daggers at Clay, he was sure on of them would gut him in his sleep. Emma was Jason's little girl. The team had been together long enough to see her grow into a beautiful young woman, but she was still just a kid, and they were protective of her the same way Jason was. Only, apparently, Clay wasn't…and that made him the enemy.

Eric patted him on the shoulder. Let him go. There was time still before they landed. Maybe Jason could calm their ire before they killed the kid themselves.

He watched Jason go to Clay, wake him, offer him something to drink, made sure he drank it before saying a few quiet words to him. He wasn't mad at the kid, that much was obvious to Eric. He seemed overly protective of him, a fatherly concern he would have never thought he'd see carried over from home to work. But there it was. He hoped it didn't mess with the balance of Bravo any more than this shitstorm had already.

Jason looked up toward Ray and the guys. Resolved himself to speak with them, and strode off towards them with purpose.

Not a religious man, Eric still prayed they worked this out before they landed.

…

Matt watched the best team he'd ever seen in action fall to pieces before his eyes. A few weeks ago he thought nothing could ever tear Bravo apart. Today, he wondered what did. He could see they were avoiding Clay. Kid had snuck into his hammock before take off and was either asleep or pretending to be, to avoid them. Whatever it was, Jason seemed more angry with the team than Spenser. He seen him talking to Clay earlier. Kid relaxed after that, accepting what he said. Jason had ruffled his hair and left to find Blackburn and the kid had turned away from those entering and stayed that way.

He saw Hayes with him again now, and then the man went to his team. As he watched Bravo one round up the guys, Matt grew more curious as to what happened, what was being said. He knew it wasn't his place to spy though, so he reluctantly let his mind wander from what went on there. He closed his eyes with Clay in his line of sight should he open them, listened to the hum of the plane and waited to land. Jason had given him a personal order to watch the kid's back before they boarded. Whatever went down, he wasn't banking on the guys to forgive and forget that quickly. He was Bravo support, and support Bravo he would.

….

They were crowded around a few crates.

Sitting.

On edge.

Jason didn't let them relax as he let his eyes lock on each member of his team. Waited for Brock to return.

They shifted, scowled, frowned, twitched…He held firm. They should have come to him. Shouldn't have taken half assed pieces of information and jumped to the wrong conclusions. He was going to set them straight. This whole mess brought out issues of trust he had no idea Bravo had. Not to mention what the kid probably felt like to hear their opinion of him. Jason himself felt like shit. How could they even assume he'd be so blind and unaware of his team members, or his children. He saw it coming, when first Ray, then Trent gave Clay the cold shoulder. When Sonny joined them, he knew it had already blown out of proportion. But there was a lesson here for them. He had too much on his plate these last weeks. If Clay hadn't been around, he'd have been dealing with a whole other mess. Now the kid was a mess, and the team was a mess and Jason just wished he could go back to that night and change all the events that led up to this. Secrets were never a good thing, no matter how you looked at it. For this, he was as much to blame as the rest for Clay being in this position.

But he also didn't want to hurt Emma, which is why he hadn't gone and said anything. Their lack of trust in him rubbed him the wrong way. This team would not work if every member was not on the same page. Clay was theirs. They'd fought for him, fought with him, and hadn't needed to second guess his loyalty, not once. Clay covered their backs, made sure they got home safe, looked at them as his brothers, as family. And they tossed him to the wolves without giving him a chance to explain. When Clay had told him that this was about to blow, Jason had had faith in his men. They'd come to him, fix this before it went out of control. Now, all he wanted was to kick himself. None of them had even given that option a thought.

And Clay, through no fault of his own had been cast aside, left adrift. Carrying burden after burden alone. He shouldn't even have been involved in this. It was a private matter, yet there Clay was, the only one able to break down the walls the Hayes' built.

What's all this nonsense I'm hearing about? II thought we were past keeping Clay in the doghouse. He's a part of this team, and for as long as we are this team, we take care of our own." Jason hissed.

"Jase, maybe I got the wrong end of the stick here, but I saw what I saw." Ray began but Jason held up a hand.

"I know. You saw them that night at my place. Trent saw the texts, Sonny saw them together at Clay's, Brock…yeah, he asked and the kid didn't deny there was something going on."

They all gave him varying looks of confusion.

"Why aren't you more pissed at Blondie?" Sonny wondered loudly. "He manhandles your daughter, hides shit from us, from you, does not argue that he didn't, and why Are YOu SO DAMNED CALM ABOUT THIS WHOLE DANG THING?!"

If it wasn't for the noise of the plane, everyone on the other side, Clay included, would have heard them.

"I'll give you each a question. Just ask me what you want so we can get this over with." Jason finally acquiesced. "Ray?"

"Do you know what went down at your place that night?"

Jason knew he meant the night he'd witnessed Clay and Emma arguing. He nodded yes. Slowly dropped to a crouch and let his ass make contact with a crate. Elbows on his knees, fingers steepled on his lips, he took a moment to gather himself.

"Emma was in a mood when she got home after picking Mikey up. She messaged Clay about it, he messaged her back trying to calm her down. She wasn't too forthcoming with everything at first. She was upset, hadn't eaten yet, whatever it was had her spooked. He let me know, I nodded yes and he went inside. Tried to get her to listen. She didn't. Pushed him away too that night." He sighed deeply, the sound pained. "Clay left. He was too angry to come back out and pretend nothing was wrong." He looked at Ray. "I spoke to you and went inside. She owned up partly to what happened. The end."

Ray opened his mouth but Jase answered before he could ask. "They really did spray is apartment."

"The texts I saw?" Trent asked heavily, already not liking what he was hearing. Why was Emma even texting with Clay?

Jason removed his phone from his pocket and passed it along to Trent. "Kid sent me screenshots so he could keep me in the loop. You can see it if you want."

But the medic shook his head, refusing to look. "I believe you Jase."

"You should have believed he wouldn't stoop so low. Should have believed that as your team leader, I'd know my men well enough to make the right call on their integrity." Jason put the phone aside and let his eyes go to the Texan. "Son? You want to know why they were fighting outside his place that night?"

Sonny hesitated, hating the turn of events. They'd already made a huge mistake, and isolated their brother while making it. What kind of friend did that make him? A piss poor one for sure.

Jason didn't wait for his reply. "Em refused to come home that night. Clay called me. I asked him to make sure she was back by the time I got there. She wouldn't budge. Stubborn like her old man." He snorted, the sound unamused. "I ordered him to be here with her by ten or else. You know the rest."

"Jase…" Ray began, paused, looked at his friend in the eyes. "How is he so involved in all of this? Is Em ok?"

Jason didn't answer for a long time. Eventually he did. "We agreed on it." He replied to the first. Sighed and added, "She will be, in time."

It didn't answer Ray's questions. It was a few questions too many now. Time was of the essence. Blackburn was pacing, waiting on him, he supposed.

"Look, guys, I don't have time to get into everything right now. It's a long damned story. But I will tell you this. It ain't the kid's fault, any of it. You best clear your minds of all the bullshit your imagination dredged up. Get your heads in the game and out of your asses. He did nothing wrong. He did not break your trust. He did not betray my loyalty and he sure as shit is doesn't deserve this kind of treatment from any of you. He'd better get a proper apology from every one of you once I explain things and I will, soon as this mission is over. Kid's been thrown aside his whole life. He doesn't need his brothers doing the same because of some inconsistency in seeing and believing. We promised him safety. We're a family, and you damned well better start acting like it."

Properly chastised, the group shook their heads. They all had a lot to think about. They had to trust that Jase knew everything that was going on with Clay and Emma, no matter how weird the concept was.

Four hours later, the mission went to hell, and Bravo six sat motionless in a blown up room, rifle on his lap, job complete.

Bravo was safe.

Their kid wasn't.

A tornado of emotions eclipsed the entire team the moment they realized that their youngest brother might not make it, that they may never have a chance to tell him they were sorry…and they each remained in their own personal hell until they could see him again.

Clay wouldn't remember it, and they'd never forget.


	7. Chapter 7

Its a little short, but I will update again later. All mistakes are mine...No beta :) Thank you for your patience, follows, favorites, comments and support xxx

Ps. every time I try to add italics or edits end, I up with a document that NASA will have to decode...forgive me. it reads straightforward but I'm still learning ;)

7

None of the team ever saw Jason come so close to losing his shit before. Not when they lost Nate, not when he lost Alana. The man was a control freak. He wasn't in control now.

They saw it when Trent reached out, tried to stabilize Clay before the chopper got there. Jason's mask slipped and he couldn't hide his fear. It set them on edge. Wild desperation seemed to coat him as he dropped to his knees helplessly. The kid was breathing, just barely. Once his vest was removed, the damage they were dealing with became apparent. Clay had at some point during the explosion, managed to land chest first against a wall, the collapsing chunks from the roof above split his helmet in two and gave his skull a good old shake and a nice big goose egg to boot. His ear was bleeding, pulse erratic, pressure shot to shit and breath sounds rapidly deteriorating. Seemed most of the trouble was internal. A large lump on the top of his head made Trent tense. It was swollen, still swelling and he worried about a bleed he couldn't see. Though his ribs hadn't broken all the way through, the bruising and pressure on his lungs made his breathing sound strained and weak. The split lip was the least of his worries and as he gauged the nosebleed, Trent prayed it wasn't related to the head injury. Trent worked, Jason hovered in his space making them all nervous and Clay remained unresponsive through it all.

Sonny sank down on his haunches, head in his hands, cursing under his breath. Seeing Clay in this position shook him up badly, especially after how he'd behaved up until a few hours ago and the feeling only intensified with their Boss's reaction. There hadn't been time to talk as they prepared for the gig, and the few times he'd tried to engage Clay on their transport the kid had answered him but it felt forced. He couldn't blame Clay, after the way he'd switched from being his best friend to a mean bully. Still, Sonny was not prepared to watch his best friend die. Not today, probably not ever, but definitely not with this noose around his neck.

Ray, hands clasped in prayer, eyes to the sky, anywhere but Clay. He couldn't lose the kid, not when he had so much yet to say to him. He'd been on Jason's case to have the kid on Bravo. He'd seen something special in him. Jase had too. Had been training him to take over his own team one day, kid was that good. Earlier, he'd been shooting beside Clay before they split up, Jason trapped on the other side with Sonny, and he'd given him orders. Kid had taken them, never second guessed his call, went up and took aim until Jason said to go high. Higher?

Was it only a little while ago? It felt like a lifetime. How'd he turn blind and only see what he wanted to when it mattered? How'd he turn against a brother so fast? How would he live the rest of his life without redemption…

Brock, stared silently at the still form of his friend, his brother, and hoped with all his heart that they hadn't broken his will to fight his way back to them. Clay was the glue that bound Bravo together. The reason they stopped, took a moment and appreciated each other. They were a well oiled machine even before the kid joined Bravo. Now Bravo were a force to be reckoned with. They protected each other more fiercely because of Clay. And unknowingly, that same protectiveness had caused them to doubt their youngest. He always reminded them to be grateful that they had each other. And all of a sudden, they forgot.

Jason, unable to anything to help, was holding onto the kid's right hand with white knuckled force, more to anchor him than Clay. This kid was the only thing keeping him from losing himself, from losing his family. From the moment the brat joined their team, he'd been nothing but trouble. He questioned everything, bucked authority, snarked, argued, came at them fighting…always fighting, and he'd fought his way right into the heart of Bravo. He was their rookie. Their brother. Friend. He was Bravo's kid. He was theirs. How would he answer to his children, Emma…She couldn't lose Clay now. He couldn't. No, the only thing he was burying was today. Clay would have to make it…

Trent wouldn't stop shaking as he assessed the situation, made calls he couldn't remember, treated his patient mechanically, prepared him for the flight…This could be the last time he felt Clay warm and alive. First time the kid fell asleep after a mission, it had been on his shoulder, against his arm. Now those same arms had to hand him over to someone else. Just before they split up, he'd squeezed the back of Clay's neck, trying to convey that he wasn't mad at him. Clay hadn't rebuffed him, but neither did he acknowledge the gesture as it was intended. He'd dipped his head and went off, and he couldn't tell if it would change anything after. Now, barely an hour later he was trying to treat him for something beyond his capabilities. Internal injuries needed a different skillset. One Trent wish he had. Like X-Ray vision…. He cupped Clay's cheek in silent apology. A soft whuff of air against his wrist made his throat close tightly. He hoped like hell that the kid kept breathing. They had too much to make up for.

They all jumped into the waiting chopper, watched the medics continue to work on Clay. Jason never let go. None of them missed it. He held on for as long as he could, until they landed. Until the emergency team from the hospital rushed to take over his care.

Until Clay's limp fingers slipped from his grasp.

It was only then that Jason let him go into the hands of strangers.

Clay may have taken the brunt of the grenade, saved his brothers lives in doing so, but right then, his team looked more wrecked than he did.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Longish chapter, big (maybe not so big) reveal. Hope you like it :) Lemme know what you think. PS. No medical degree, so I took creative liberties wherever I had to_**. **_ Any and all mistakes are mine. I own that shit ;)_**

8

In the waiting room, Blackburn rushed in with Davis. They forced the guys to change out of their tactical clothing and sent everything back to base. They were done minutes later, back in civilian clothes, and there was still no news on Clay.

Their Commander ended a phone call, threw the device to the side, let it hit the chair. Watched it bounce and land face down on the floor. "So the Intel we were given was total bullshit." He told them angrily. Looked like he was about to stomp on the defenseless piece of hardware, sat down instead. "It was an ambush. Whoever planned this didn't want your team getting back. I got people working on it. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Jason stared, the only movement on him was the tense ticking in his jaw. He looked livid, but somehow didn't seem surprised at the news. "I need to call home." And without another word, he stepped away from the team and over to the window.

The first twenty minutes passed slowly. Nerves were frayed. Nails were bitten, booted feet made trails on the tiles. Lisa brought in coffee for her boys, but except for taking it with short nods and dipped heads, no one spoke. They milled around sipping their horrible hospital brand caffeine, lost in thought and prayer. Eyes would stray to the doors every once in a while, but no one came to them.

The phone on the floor vibrated and Trent glared at it icily. Eric picked it up, swiped at the surprisingly intact screen, replied to the message. Pocketed it. Yawned and stretched like the silence. He needed to say something. Anything to break the tension in the room.

"Matt said Clay got in two shots before the grenade hit. One across the street and another one a floor above. The guy must have adjusted his aim to the window instead of down towards you guys before Clay got off the shot though. Other was dead already. Would have been direct hits yall didn't see coming."

"Kid doesn't hesitate to put himself in harms way to save our hides. Loyal to a fault." Jason said softly. He tore off a piece of the sticker on the side of his paper cup. Stared at it. Rolled it into a ball. Scratched a second piece until the edge lifted and repeated the process. There was no easy way to say it, so Jason just blurted the first thing on his mind. "Hit on Bravo came from inside. High up the food chain. They'll have it covered well."

Eric turned sharply towards him. "Come again?"

"If Clay doesn't make it, they'd have gotten what they wanted." Jason growled, seething in anger. His knees bounced up and down, agitation making him jumpy, fear making him burn. Before anyone could wrap their heads around his statement, he whispered, voice cracking, "I just need him to be okay…otherwise I may very well lose two kids at once."

For some reason, they knew he meant Emma and Clay, not Emma and Mikey, and they couldn't wrap their heads around that statement.

Jason didn't look up, but he could still feel the heat of their questions. He needed to say it. They needed to know. It was time. He'd handle the fallout with Emma later. Him and Clay couldn't control this beast of a secret any more. Kid almost died. Could still… "Last year when Clay had the flu, he and Stella were at their off again stage. He was new on the team, miserable, and you all already know he ended up crashing with us."

Clay had almost ended up staying in the hospital because his fever wouldn't break. He'd called Jason to tell him he wasn't feeling well, because that had been the drilled into his head from the start. No matter what it is, how small or inconsequential he may think it is, if it affects him, it affects the team and he had to tell Jason immediately. He sent Emma over with soup and home remedies, but then she called him to help carry Clay to the car. Kid was solid, even sick as a dog and she couldn't manage the fever ridden Seal by herself. They'd kept him for the day, put him on IV antibiotics and fluids and only sent him home because Jason had told the doctors they were taking him home with them.

"Kid was out for two weeks. Flu kicked his ass." Sonny remembered. They'd all visited, at some point stayed over. Jason's house had become second base for all of them. That first seed of possessiveness was planted and brotherhood grew from there.

"While he was there, he sorta got close to the kids. Guess he needed something grounding, and the kids did that for him. Emma was slow to thaw, but Mikey took to him like he was a lost big brother. And he was." Jason mused. "Lost."

They couldn't disagree. Clay had that lost little boy look, and they usually found it difficult to stay mad at him. Until now…

Once they'd found their footing with him, he fit right in like a missing puzzle piece. Each one silently contemplated what riled them up so badly this time. Maybe it was because it was Jason's daughter, maybe plain old stupidity…

"I warned him right off the bat, no messing with Emma. Kid was appalled that I'd even thought that. He admitted that what he'd lacked his whole life was family. And he found that with Emma and Mikey. With us. He's been out with the two a lot, and they always introduce him as their big brother. People wanted to know who cheated…me or Lana." He laughed bitterly. "Kid took his job seriously."

Jason closed his eyes, spun the cup, stilled his hands and held it firmly between his fingers. His knees still bobbed.

"Alana knew he hung around a lot. Knew why he did, made them all exchange numbers incase of emergencies. There were no secrets. When Alana died…" he paused. "When she died, I stayed home, Clay went on that awful mission and we lost Adam…Emma wouldn't open up much. My mom was trying, but even she couldn't come right with them. It's like they waited for Clay to come back home and make it all better. They said he didn't have a mom growing up, and he understood better than anyone what they're going through. I didn't even know until they told me that." Jason smiled at the sad memory. "He was patient, listened, advised, consoled…eventually he brought my kids back to me."

Clay had a way of fixing broken things. None of them could deny that. Bravo was proof of it. Jason started spinning the cup again.

"Just over a month ago, Emma went out with some of her friends." Shoulders tensed, he leaned lower instead of up, turning the empty cup in his hands faster and faster. "She was deciding whether she wanted to stay on campus or stay at home when she started college. Still testing the waters of adulthood. There was a party. Alcohol was involved at some point." He breathed out through his nose. Inhaled, held his breath and released it slowly. "She called me to tell me they were gonna be home late. Didn't say why."

Ray had a sinking feeling that he knew where this was headed. His stomach twisted. His eyes flickered to the rest of the team, all listening intently, already anticipating the worst like he was.

"Clay got a text from one of her friends. Said someone spiked her drink and she was sick in the bathroom. Em was afraid I'd yell at her and embarrass her in public, so she asked her friend to get Clay to come pick her up. He let me know before he left…no secrets…but by the time he got there, someone was already trying to take advantage of Em." He paused, pale, clenched his jaw.

Everyone held their breath.

"She had a close call. Clay got there in time."

They all sagged in relief.

"Guy's friends caused a ruckus and helped him get away, and Emma was too out of it, mostly hysterical, so Clay let him go and stayed with her instead. He told me what happened before he brought her home, but Emma doesn't know that I know everything."

"Did yall get the guy? Press charges? Tel me yall got the son of a bitch!" Trent hissed, smacking his fists together.

Jason shook his head. "She couldn't even remember much of the attack afterwards, but they didn't know that. Told her they have it recorded. Threatened to leak it if she spoke of the incident to anyone." He looked to Ray, and his friend knew immediately this happened the night at his place. "She showed the messages to him…Clay was livid. All Em remembered of that night was the fear and the emotions she went through. That they have it recorded, could be watching, sharing it…They already stole her freedom, her independence, confused her. She contemplated skipping the first year of college. And then that damned threat…"

"Jase, hell, why isn't that kid behind bars? Better yet, why isn't he six feet underground?" Sonny asked, standing up and pacing. "He can't get away with this. Do you know who he is? Does Clay?"

"Yeah, Clay knows who it is. No, I don't. Emma managed to swipe the bastard with that wishbone ring she wears all the time. Got him across the face while trying to fight him off. Clay took the ring to a buddy of his at NCIS. Managed to get some DNA off of it. Traced the messages back to burner phones. But he won't give up the name because they still keep harassing Em even after she changed her number. Said if she brings it up, they'll ruin her life, mine, even yours." He gestured to the team. "They know we're SEALS, Tier One. Know more than they should." His eyes found Eric's. "Clay said the family is top brass."

"You think they set up the ambush." Eric said, understanding why Jase told this story instead of just explaining what he suspected.

They were both trained operators, him and Cay, and because they couldn't get to the root of the problem without risking their jobs or their team, they'd held back. Tried to come up with a way to dissolve this before anyone else got hurt.

"How long is it that he knows who the bastard is? She still getting threats?" Eric asked him, ready to make a few more calls.

"'Bout two weeks." Jason rubbed at his temples, returned to the cup. "Is why I asked you to keep us closer to home. Emma needed us. This op came out of the blue. Ambush. Whatever." He sighed. "Clay saw the guy at the party, now he has a name, but he won't tell me who it is no matter what I threaten him with. He's willing to risk his career on this but I'd kill him if he did and Emma is too scared right now. If we lay a charge it's going to clap back hard, so our hands are tied. But Clay won't leave it. He's been waiting for him to slip up again. Kid's been covered for before, and Clay just needs some proof that can't be squashed or tampered with. He wants to get him on a charge that will stick, higher up military background or not. He's been trying to keep my little girl safe, protect me, this team from a fallout if it comes down to it. He wasn't manhandling her. Her emotions are all over the place. The only two people to get close to her since that day are Clay and Mikey. She hasn't hugged me in a month."

"I'm still shocked that Clay didn't tell you who it was." Eric sounded surprised.

"I'm shocked that you just let him take charge. Of your family, of you?" Trent said. "I find that hard to believe." And he did, because Jason Hayes was as tough as they came. He wasn't team leader because he handed shit over to his 2IC. He dealt with things head on, and his men followed. Hell the man had a hard time taking orders from Blackburn.

Jason shrugged. "He's holding all the cards here. Emma went to him, still goes to him. I stick my finger in, there's a chance she could clam up. Won't know anything then. He doesn't do anything without running it by me first, so technically, I'm still in charge."

"Except you don't know who the perp is." Brock stretched out his legs, spoke for the first time. "Spenser has you there."

"I'd have killed him already." Jason admitted, eyes alight with unbridled anger. "If it wasn't for Clay, I'd have been down for murder last month."

"Well shit, we'd have helped you. No secrets, remember?" Sonny said, irritated, because they'd all jumped down the kid's throat for trying to do the right thing.

"Yeah, what he said." Ray agreed. Also because he was supposed to be Jase's best friend, and he knew jack all. This was Emma, and Emma was family.

"Clay didn't even give you a clue as to who we're dealing with?" Eric asked, thinking maybe he could get a jump on their investigation if he had a name.

Jason shook his head. "Refused outright. Said he knew the family and the less everyone else knows the better. I trust him on this. What he's done for all of us is selfless, but when he's in protective mode, the kid can be a stubborn little shit."

"You could have still told us what was happening." Ray insisted. "No kept us in the dark like this. Directly or indirectly, it affects us all."

"Maybe I should have. But she's my daughter Ray. My little girl no matter how old she gets. She has no idea how much I know. How hard it is for me to hold back when I'm around her, speak to her as normal, to pretend…now imagine she gets treated like a fragile piece of glass by you guys whenever you're around her too? Make her second guess herself…She's strong, but even the strongest of us have a breaking point. Clay knows that. Isn't afraid to handle her tantrums and breakdowns. To handle her. He shoulders her burdens with her, not for her."

Ray nodded. Accepted that it was true. Yeah, now he knew how not to behave in front of her after hearing this, but he sure as hell wouldn't have known before. He would have gone all 'Uncle Ray' and blown some heads off with Uncle Son, Brock and Trent right beside him. And then all her dumbass uncles would have been sitting in the brig with her father and Clay would have still been the only one helping Emma.

"I owe him for keeping me sane, and Em? She needs her big brother right now. I don't even want to think of what would happen if…" Jason swallowed thickly. Shook his head to clear it. The cup folded in his grasp, beyond recognition. He let it drop. Leaned back and closed his eyes again.

"I can see why Clay tried to keep this from you, but I could have helped. Same as that NCIS person, I could have traced the number back, checked the phone, found some hard evidence, tried to prevent them from leaking what they do have." Lisa told him, feeling a little hurt that Clay would choose outside help and not them. "We're his team. He should have gone to Eric. Eric could have handled the higher ups…And Emma, God, she's so young. She needs a woman's perspective on this. You're all brutes."

"She has Goldilocks." Sonny chimed in. Made Jason crack a small smile.

"Believe me, I asked him to, Lisa. But Emma didn't want anyone to know, not even me. Eric may know the higher ups, but touching this guy is even above his pay grade. All I know is that he's an Admiral's grandson. Clay said Emma would never forgive him if he betrayed her trust and told you. Any of you. She would never forgive him if you all went down for this. Because she knew you would take it to heart and probably raise more dust than he did. You would have lost your jobs, your families. He said brothers don't do that, said that they respect, protect and make it better, no matter what."

And his five big brothers wished they could have all done the same for him…

The door finally opened. The doctor walking towards them had everyone holding their breaths.

"Spenser?" The doctor asked, looking exhausted but relieved.

"Yeah. How's our boy doing?" Jason stood, locking his knees to withhold the trembling.

"Surgery went well. He fractured four ribs, bruised both lungs, has fractured skull, but the rest is superficial. We managed to relieve the pressure on his brain and the swelling has receded but we'll only know how its affected him once he wakes. The MRI looks positive though, and so far he has been responding to stimuli. He's lucky, no internal bleed into his chest cavity and except for a perforated left ear drum, shouldn't have any lasting effects. We have him sedated, moving him to ICU for the next 24 hours. He'll be on the vent for a day, give his lungs time to recover and barring complications from the head injury, he should make a full recovery."

It felt like the first time in hours that they could finally breathe.

"Can we see him?" Jason asked, desperation evident in his voice.

"A nurse will come and get you when he's settled. Two at a time, for short periods only, please." The doctor warned.

Jason shook his head. "I'm not leaving him alone. Sources indicate that there was a hit on my team. Clay is a part of that team. We stay together until he's able to leave."

The Doctor was about to argue that when he saw Eric, recognizing him. "Commander Blackburn?"

"Doc." Eric greeted. "How long before Spenser is able to travel?"

"Depending on his recovery time, how fast he wakes, I'd say three days before you can safely move him."

"Then expect my men to be in that room for the next three days. Call it protective detail. He is not to be left alone. Understood?"

"Look, I understand. I can allow two to stay. The rest will have to rotate. Intensive care requires room for the nurses to move in order to be able to help the patient. I'll make sure no one is allowed in without your approval. It's the best I can do." The Doctor told him. He knew the Commander well and respected the man. And it never hurt to be kind.

"Ill take it." Eric slapped him on the back. "Thanks Doc."

Jason was already following the nurse out, Brock on his tail. Sonny, Ray and Trent hung back, wanting to go see their youngest brother, but also feeling a huge amount of guilt for treating him the way they did. Jason hadn't even bothered to ask one of them to go with him, and hadn't even acknowledged that Brock was behind him. He was a man on a mission.

After what they'd heard, they were determined to do right by their team. Because the team really was all the family you need.

Eric left the men to their thoughts after that, got on the phone and yelled orders to his people to dig up whatever they could. Job risk or no, lives were at stake here. Whoever messed with Bravo and their families were going to pay. Top Brass or not.

_(Please let me know if there are any inconsistencies with the story so far. I'd love to know your thoughts :)_


	9. Chapter 9

_Your reviews are fuel to my fingers and food for my brain. Thank you all for the warm welcome to the SEAL TEAM fandom, and all the awesome support. You guys are amazing. These have got to the be the fastest uploads Iv'e ever done haha. _

_Ps. All mistakes are mine in this OC fic. Sorry not sorry for making the guys go through all this ;) _

9

The day dragged into night, Clay slept on, sedated. The mechanical whoosh and hiss of the vent took a while to get used to, but Jason eventually managed to shove it to the back of his mind while he kept an eye on the monitors. Brock sat beside him, his quiet presence appreciated. Jason needed the time to think. Didn't want to deal with the guys right now. Kid was alive and he was keeping him that way. Yeah, he looked like hell, but he was gonna make it. Thank heavens he was gonna make it.

He'd called home, checked they were ok. Emma and Mikey were staying with his mom for now. He made sure they went with her, told them Clay had been hurt. Skimmed over the details, but assured them as the doc had, that he would be alright.

Emma freaked out as expected, but she calmed down relatively easily. He was prepared for some harsh words, a breakdown, however, she surprised him by pulling herself together and asking all the right questions.

'How bad was he hurt?'

Did the doc give them a timeline on recovery?'

'How was the team holding up?'

'He's staying with us until he's healed up, right dad?'

Then she'd asked about him, told him to make sure he ate, got some rest. Waiting wasn't an easy thing to do, but she had faith that everything would work out. Clay was strong, this was a cake walk. Sent them both hugs and kisses, tons of love.

He didn't know when he'd gone from two kids to three, but there was no turning back now. He promised to take care of Clay, and she promised to take care of herself and Mikey. It was the first time in a long time that he felt like he was speaking to his Em again. Even shaken from that horrible experience, she somehow pulled herself together and stood tall. Clay definitely had a hand in that. Throughout her whole ordeal, Clay hadn't coddled her. Didn't stop her from voicing her thoughts or fears. Let her break apart, slowly helped her find the missing pieces and put them back together. Told her she wasn't a victim unless she let her attacker win. As long as was fighting, she was the victor. Wondered what the hell was wrong with Ash Spenser for missing out on a kid like Clay, then thanked him for forcing his hand in proving he was nothing like his father. Landed him right on Bravo's doorstep. They'd gained something priceless, he wasn't about to let that go.

Eric had someone keeping an eye on the house, just incase. His family were safe for now. Clay would throw a fit if he knew Jason was here instead of with his family. But Jase knew that they'd remain safe. It was easier to take out a SEAL in an ambush than mess around with civilians. Those investigations went a whole lot deeper, and the guys behind this were trying to maintain secrecy.

A nurse came in, did what was needed, checked the lines, updated the charts, smiled sincerely when she told them Clay's stats were holding stable and he was doing well before leaving. The process was repeated on and off and the hours melted and blurred into each other. At some point they had X-rays done again. Scans too. Came in and removed the drain from the side of his head. Cleaned him up a bit, left.

He felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders after speaking to the team. Now that they knew what they had been dealing with, maybe they could come up with a proper apology for Clay. He was going to hold them to it. The kid had gone through enough, least they could do was make recovery easy on him. He hoped Clay would go easy on them but wouldn't blame him if he didn't. The last couple days had dredged up old, hurtful memories for Clay, brought forward all his fears. It almost killed Jason when the kid randomly mentioned Ash Spenser still abandoning him even after he'd done like his father asked and did his best. 'Like a disposable diaper,' He'd said. 'Get filled with crap and then thrown away for doing my job.'

He wanted to punch something. Thought about getting Eric to call Clay's NCIS contact for a name so he could knock some teeth out, thought he'd better not betray the kid while he was down, decided to pace, remembered they hadn't eaten in too long. He sent Brock out for some food, answered his numerous texts, kept an eye on the door, another on Clay.

It was going on 2am when Sonny kicked Brock out. Was hoping he could sit with Clay alone for a bit, but Jason was being a gargoyle and the stone sentry refused to budge.

"Been hours and sleeping beauty still sleeps." He complained, rubbing a hand over his face. Jason hummed in response. Let him speak, cos he knew Sonny needed to.

"I can't believe I reverted back to my old self with the kid. Never gonna forgive myself for that." Sonny lamented. "He's my best friend. I should have spoken to him."

"Yeah, you should have." Jason agreed. He folded his hands over his head, leaned back, stretched his legs.

"Think he'll understand?" Sonny shuffled over to the bed, noisily. It was obvious he wanted his friend awake.

"Kid has a big heart. It's taken a beating, Son, but he's got a lotta love in there." The Texan looked contrite, nodded.

"Yeah." Sonny went quiet. Stopped rattling the bedrail. Watched the monitors, listened to the hiss of the vent and winced. "I'm an idiot."

"Not gonna deny that."

He laughed, swiped at his eyes and blinked back the tears that gathered there.

"Boss? He's gonna be alright, right?"

"He'd better be."

Sonny moved back, kept vigil. They sat in silence for a bit until the door slid open.

Ray knocked after sticking his head inside. "Jase? Oh, hey Son."

Sonny stood up to leave. "Let me know when he gets up. I got some groveling to do." He dipped his head.

"Go practice." Jason bumped fists with him.

"Ray." Sonny tipped his cap, left.

He took the vacated seat. Did the same thing Sonny did, not satisfied that Clay hadn't woken yet. Jason wondered if that routine would ever get old. Whenever one of them was down, they were all worried and antsy, but they swore, cussed and sarcasmed their way out of it. When it was Clay though, they took mother henning to a whole new level.

"I'm sorry, man." Ray said aloud.

"You should wait until he's up." Jason was exhausted. Scruff on his face, bags under his eyes, man he looked like his rookie got hit by a grenade. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, dropped his head low and enjoyed the blood rush. Made him alert.

"I'm apologizing to you." Ray pulled a face at Jason. Scuttled back on the hard plastic chair, couldn't get comfortable. Thought Jason's back was gonna kill him later, he'd been in it for hours.

Jase drew his brows together, forehead pinched, face red.

Ray added, "…for what I started between the team. Should have come to you or kept my mouth shut."

Jason lifted his head, then his body until he was upright, turned to Clay, slowly dragged his eyes away. Waited for Ray to continue.

"If I'd have spoken to you instead of adding fuel to Trent's fire, we wouldn't be here, waiting for him to wake up so we could beg his forgiveness. You were right. He didn't need to go into that alley without being sure we had his back. We should have never made him feel that way."

"Agreed." Jason sighed. "We're good. Just make it right with him when he wakes up. Team's no good without trust."

The nurse came in, Doctor followed. They were going to remove the vent, see how Clay did.

Ray didn't wait for them to kick him out. Had no desire to watch the kid struggle or gag when they removed the thing. He got up, thumped Jason on the shoulder and left. Jason didn't.

Took Trent three tries before he made it through the door.

Brock sat outside, munching on pretzels. He watched his teammate hesitate, reach the door, pause. He raised an eyebrow, waited to see what Trent would do. Trent cursed and paced all the way back down the hallway. Sonny had beat him in. Trent sank to the floor and sat there. After a while he stood up again, went to the door. Brock squashed the empty bag in his hand, popped open a soda. Trent raised a hand, dropped it, paced back down the hallway. Brock took a sip. Doc and nurse went in, Ray came out. Doc came out, nurse came out, Brock finished his drink, squashed the can.

Trent walked back to the door. Brock shook his head, grabbed his garbage, whispered 'wuss.' Took the stinkeye Trent gave him and walked away with a smirk. Trent took Brock's seat until he decided it was now or never.

Once inside, he found himself at the foot of the bed. Jason had dozed off on the uncomfortable chair. Trent picked up the chart and scanned through it, satisfied that everything was in order. Kid was pale, face still puffy, bruised, but he looked a helluva lot better than he did on the ground. He was glad he waited until the vent came off. Sonny had been yammering about how horrible it sounded.

Clay would heal. Physically, this was just another hurdle to overcome. Mentally though, how their behavior had affected their youngest was still to be seen. When Clay joined the team he was a forte. Protected himself by shutting them out, doing what needed to be done only after cross questioning everything. He'd come a long way since. They all had. Slowly he'd let them in. Shared little snippets of his life growing up. The difficult relationship with Ash…his self doubt, how hard he worked to be accepted for who he was, not leaning on his father's name.

And they'd put him right back at the beginning in one fell swoop. All his brothers, together, well, not Brock so much, and not Jason, but the rest of them, they'd made assumptions that wouldn't easily be forgiven no matter how big a heart Clay had. They'd have to work really hard to gain his trust again, to remind him that he was still a part of them. Team needed him, and Clay needed his team. They had to find a way to make him see that.

He sighed, leaned forward on the bedrail and watched Clay's chest rise and fall, listened to the steady beat of his heart, and sent a silent thank you heavenwards.

"Your loud thinking is gonna wake him." Jason yawned.

"Like it did you?" Trent asked, not taking his eyes off Clay.

"Yeah. Doc said he's doing much better. They dialed down the sedatives. Should wake in a few hours."

"Lisa was here earlier. She didn't stay long, stopped to drop off some snacks. Said they hit a roadblock on the investigation, but there was definitely talk of Bravo along the channels. We're not that famous, are we Boss?"

"No, we're not." Stretching, he shuffled over to the side of the bed.

"Mandy's pulling some strings with her contacts, should have some news for us later."

"Good, that's good." Jason glanced up at Trent. "Looks too damned young, doesn't he?"

"Grown man looking like a kid. It's no wonder everyone treats him like that." Trent said.

Jason gave him a pointed glare. Trent scowled guiltily. "I didn't mean it that way Jase. I meant like he needs to be covered in cotton balls and kept safe. He gets a paper cut we're all scrambling for band aids."

"I know." Jason reached out, and in a rare gesture of affection, tugged on a loose blonde curl. "We don't give him enough credit for what he's capable of. Kid's as tough as they come, handles pretty well on the field and off. Will make a great team lead one day."

"Think he can handle us after this?" Trent moved to the side of the bed, across from Jason. Let his fingers graze Clay's wrist, felt the pulse thrumming steadily underneath and reveled in the warmth that seeped through to him.

"Think you should ask him that."

Trent blew out a breath and hmm'd. Jason wasn't gonna make this easy on them. But they deserved it.

Kid was alive…That was all they needed. They'd work out the rest from there.

_(I hope I can manage a second upload today :D I have other incomplete pieces screaming for my attention :P)_


	10. Chapter 10

**_Hey, hope you all enjoy this one. I'm not sure what happened, but this monster of a story took control and is now writing itself. Thank you for all the reviews and kind messages. *All mistakes are my own, still not a doctor, fic is still OC, I made some things up, and I really don't mind you all throwing around your thoughts :D_**

**10**

Alone with Clay again a few hours after Trent left, Jason saw him come slowly awake. His eyes kind of blinked opened, stared vacantly at the ceiling. Jason moved quietly, didn't want to startle him, but when Clay went on staring, he got a little worried. Holding his breath, he gently placed his fingers on Clay's arm. Kid blinked back to sleep lazily without having said or done anything.

The second time he called out for Jace. Croaked out a pained, 'No!' Shuddered so hard the bed shook.

Was out again before Jason pulled his heart out of his mouth and made it off his seat.

Third time…'It's ok Em. I got you." Clay's abused throat made his voice crack, half the words eaten by a whisper.

Jason winced, holding his hands down as Clay clawed at the sheets, trying to comfort his daughter.

Then, "Guy's r mad J. Cn't do this."

Jason startled from a light doze, sat forward. Clay went quiet. Tensed a moment later when the kid mumbled something about the team and brothers. Jason murmured a few words to him, told him they're not mad. Were still his stupid brothers. Edged closer to the bed, kept speaking quietly until Clay settled.

A while later…"You k?" Clay turned, voice breaking, looked directly at Jason, sky blue eyes murky and heavy. Jase, relieved that he was finally awake this time, stood up, went to him only to have the kid fall back asleep as soon as he answered, 'yeah' with a hand on Clay's his knee.

Each time he woke briefly, asked a question, conked out afterwards. Repeated most of them, only relaxed when Jason told him they were safe, that he was safe. Proved it by making contact. The desperation in his voice as he muttered the same things over and over again gave Jase a mini heart attack. Doc said it was normal after a head injury, especially while coming off sedation. It happened with some patients. They ended up sleep talking through vivid dreams. Others just slept straight through. Said it would settle as the meds left his system. Didn't make it any easier to watch. Between him and Brock, they'd probably grown a few more gray hairs.

Clay drifted. There was no darkness, no light. No voices, no dreams. He just was. Awareness was there, hovering just beneath the surface. He was aware of touch, vibrations, comfort...however, a need to be alert kept him from sinking too far into the abyss. He needed to feel that to know he was safe. Without the touch, without the vibrations, he was nothing. And Clay had worked very hard to not be a nothing.

There was something he needed to do…something he needed to tell Jase but he didn't have the energy to remember what it was.

A weighted feeling of sadness seeped through to him, making him want to sob. Felt like something was broken, might never be repaired. Thought it could only be his fault, usually was. Storm clouds dragged him under and he struggled to maintain the connection with here, wherever 'here' was. The vibration came back, then the touch. He felt himself calm, safety enveloping him again.

Jason waited for Clay to settle down before stepping away. They'd moved him from ICU earlier since he was stable enough that he didn't need all the extra monitoring. He was totally oblivious to everything around him though, and it sent Jason into over protective mode. Kid was so out of it he would be defenseless if anyone attacked right now.

The private room was a welcome reprieve for him. He hated the claustrophobic feeling he'd had in ICU upstairs. This room had a view overlooking the parking lot and a comfortable reclining seat on the one side plus a TV. Had a door that actually closed with a handle instead of a slide. Sun even came in, warming up the cold room. He heard footsteps outside, went to the window in the door, saw two of his team arguing with Brock, rolled his eyes and turned.

Brock came in with Sonny, leaving Trent outside. "Take some time Jase, grab a shower, something to eat. We got this watch." Sonny told him, heading straight for the bed. "Ray's waiting for you in the car. Trent'll walk you out."

Didn't look like Sonny slept a wink. Looked like he was nursing a hangover but Jase knew better. They wouldn't be out drinking, any of them, if there was danger at bay. Jason inhaled, waited to see what Sonny was doing, eyed Brock who shrugged. Satisfied that Clay looked better without the drain and breathing on his own, Sonny grabbed the remote, turned on the TV. Volume went up to full blast. Clay bodily flinched. Sonny fumbled for the mute button, Jason smacked him upside the head, Brock yanked the remote away, smacked him with it too, threw his arms apart in a 'what the hell' motion. All three of them froze when Clay's eyes opened slightly.

"J….?" He breathed.

"I'm here." Jason's voice was all the comfort he needed. He closed his eyes, went back under.

They gave him a few minutes, made sure he was really out before Jason rounded on Sonny. "Don't you wake him by force Son, or I swear you'll be running hills in all your gear and Clay's for the next month." He whisper yelled with a finger shake at the self-destructive Texan. "Brock, watch him."

"Yes Boss."

Sonny smiled sheepishly, took the comfortable reclining chair before Brock moved towards it, grinned and relaxed, one eye on Clay, the other on the sports channel. Brock, resigned to the other seat, took the plastic chair closer to Clay's bed, put both feet up on the one end and dared Sonny to interfere with their sleeping brother.

Jason shook his head at their antics, glanced one last time at Clay, then Sonny and Brock, and left. He knew he needed a few minutes for himself but he didn't want to be away incase Clay woke up like he'd done earlier even though the team could handle it. He was so high strung all his notes were off.

Jase found Trent to the left at the vending machine, getting bottled water. Met up and walked with him. Took the offered sandwich he was holding out and tore off the wrapper.

"Sonny behaving?"

"He's an idiot. Impatient, but he can get in line." He took a huge bite off the one side, tasted nothing, chewed, still nothing, swallowed. Shoved the rest of it in his mouth and gave Trent the other untouched half back. He cracked open the cap on the water bottle, took a swig, swished and swallowed. Drained the bottle. Followed Trent down the stairs.

"Ray's taking you back to base. Clean up, go see Blackburn."

"They find something?"

"Think so."

"Finally." Jason breathed, relieved.

"Kid ok?" Trent looked over his shoulder at Jason while taking the stairs down two at a time.

"In and out of it. Doc said it's expected. Body needs the rest, but his minds too wound up to keep him under for long. Keeps waking, asking the same things. Been restless."

"Doc's right. Drugs and head injuries don't mesh well. Long as he's stable, it's alright." He stopped at the door, held it open. "I'm gonna stay here, keep watch outside the room."

Ray pulled the rental car in closer, leaned over, swung the door open and Jason hopped in. "Ray."

"Clay?" He asked immediately.

"Same as when I answered your text ten minutes ago." Jason sighed. "Let's go. I need to hear some good news."

Half and hour later, showered, fresh and ready for action, Jase opened the door to Blackburn's office, knocked, and made his way to an empty chair without being invited in.

Eric didn't bother with formalities. Didn't ask about the kid. He'd gotten four different messages regarding Clay's well being already and a call from the doctor.

"Tell me what we got." Jason wasn't patient.

"Mandy's contact gave up a name linked to one of the guys Clay took out. They're not related to any militia groups in the area but the incident stands out. They had us look into another mission that was blown. Found it linked to a 'mercenary for hire' type underground faction. No one knows who funds them, but jobs they do are private. A SEAL Team went down 'bout a year ago, received bad intel, had a run in with the same people. Commander Sloan lost a few good men but they took it for what is was at the time. A disaster mission. They didn't look into it, but we did now. Same thing happened four years ago, but files for that mission are locked tight. Third time's always a charm."

"Mercenaries? You shittin' me?" Jason kicked back the chair, hands on his hips. "To take out SEALs? These guys will have to be weapons trained, so former military background, right? They'll have contacts inside, know the way we work. Strategies and shit."

Eric nodded, elbows on the table, chin bouncing on his knuckles.

"All that to protect a Navy brat from a teenage girl who doesn't remember him? I don't think so." Jason growled.

"Tier One operator does. Clay ruffled a few feathers, sure, but something else is going on here that we're missing. He's gonna have to explain himself to us once he wakes. Fill us in on what he found, what he was doing to nail the bastard. Names…Kid could have stepped onto a landmine without even knowing it."

"Who were the members they lost on the SEAL Team? Anything related to what we're dealing with? Something that may have suggested they needed elimination?"

"We're checking. I want to do this quietly. They don't suspect we already know about the set up on this op or the previous ones. I plan to keep it that way for a while. Less people know about this the better."

"Let me know when you know something. Do we need to move my family? Move Clay?" Jason asked, worry evident in his voice.

"I don't think so. Not right away. As long as they don't know we're onto them, they won't strike. Seems like their MO is to attack on the field. Less of a need to explain casualties. Our job is to figure out what Clay stumbled on, why it needs to be covered."

"I'm going back to the hospital. Sonny'll be itching to wake the kid." Jason scrubbed at his eyes, shoved back his hair, was ready to move.

Eric knew he just needed eyes on Clay, but didn't call him on it. "Keep me posted. I'll have the infirmary prepared for when Doc gives the go ahead to move him."

Jason filled Ray in on the way back. Filled the other three in while Ray sat with Clay. Only relaxed when he saw for himself that the kid was still asleep. He resumed his watch, sent Brock off to get some proper rest. Sonny took a seat outside the room and Trent joined him for the next few hours.

Clay was moving around sluggishly, fighting his way back to consciousness again. The flickering behind his lids becoming more frequent and he hoped this time he was more with it. The quicker Clay was on board, the quicker they could figure things out.

Sonny and Trent left, Ray took the seat outside, Brock came back in, joined Jason.

And they waited.

_**Might have another upload for you later...no promises ;) Will try my best not to disappoint xxx**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Not much happens here, but an upload it is :) Hope you like it. Thank you all for the awesome reviews, the support and the welcome. All mistakes are mine as usual :( We'll start dealing with the real issues from the next chapter on. Keeping my fingers crossed this went ok..the Clay Slur parts :D Again, I made shit up 'cos I could, then wondered if I did the right thing, lol. Story of my life in writing :P**_

**11**

Sound was garbled for a long while before it made any sense. Here and there he caught something clearly, most times it just echoed through his head.

Images flashed behind his lids, but once light entered through them, everything came back with a rush. He tried to get away from it, both the burst of light and the overwhelming fear. One more second and someone was gonna take Jason out. He fumbled for his rifle. It wasn't there…Something was on his face, in his face.

"Jase!" He croaked. "J..."

"Woah, Clay, relax. You're safe." Jason stilled the hands flopping towards the doctor, then going for the nasal cannula and held them tightly in his.

_Jason's_ _voice_…

Meant he was ok. Clay blinked rapidly, chest tight and heaving. Needed to say something to him but he looked around in confusion instead. "J?" He swallowed hard, throat burning.

"You're in the hospital." Jason's hands on his forearms relaxed him slightly.

"Cracked a couple ribs, knocked yourself out. You played catch with a grenade, had a smack down with a wall, but you're gonna be ok." He told him softly. "You with me now?" Jason asked hopefully when Clay didn't immediately pass back out.

Clay considered that, frowned. What a stupid question. Of course he was with Jason.

Figured he must have answered aloud because Jason gave a shaky laugh, palmed his forehead.

The gesture was soothing, made Clay feel like a kid again. Helped ground him, helped ignore the other person in the room, the one with the crazy ass light. That and the horrible echo that bounced around in his skull and made him take a second longer to decipher what he was hearing. Damned headache.

"What's the verdict, docman?" Jason asked.

Clay inhaled, found it hurt to breathe. He blinked away from the offending light still coming at him, sought refuge with Jason.

"The light hurts. Can you give him a minute?" He heard Jase say for him, was grateful that he shaded his eyes and chucked the penlight away.

"Oh…kay." The doctor backed up, hands raised. "Pupil reaction is better than last time. Reflexes too. Light bothers you right now, but it will get better."

"How's his ribs? Lungs?" Jason asked, more so Clay could hear for himself. He was grateful, because his throat was so sore and dry, he would have never have been able to say all those words without choking.

"Will hurt to breathe for a while until the ribs and bruising settles," He spoke to Clay, "But your O2 levels have improved. Might have migraines or balance issues for a couple days but they'll be short term." He toyed with the stethoscope, stuffed it in his pocket. Made eye contact with Jason. He's doing very well, all things considered. Give him time to catch up. He'll be more with it as the day passes." He bent over to pick up his penlight, pocketed it too.

Clay coughed, turned his hand and grabbed at Jason's wrist. "Team? Eve'yone make it?" He was with it now, screw the doc. He remembered every last moment until the grenade landed in the room. The guy was about to take out Jase, take out his team…After that, things got a little wonky. Now there was an elephant sitting on his chest and an electric whisk scrambling his brain. His throat burned. Half his words were incomplete because his voice decided to revert back to when he was thirteen and still breaking it in. His head felt heavy, pounded in time to his heartbeat. Eyes struggled to follow the blurry faces in front of him, but he focused on Jason's solid presence instead. It kept him from losing control. From floating away back to when he just was.

"Guys are all okay, thanks to you, kiddo." Jase sat down on his designated chair next to the bed. The hard, plastic one. "You though, you're gonna have to sit through a nice long lecture on self preservation. Soon as that ear can hear me properly." He smirked at Clay's widening eyes.

Clay swallowed thickly. _Ear?_ That explained the inflamed left side of his throat and the irritating echo. Tried to answer but blew out a whistle instead. Stuck his middle finger up at Jason's grin in reply.

"Can he have some water? His throat's got to be killing him."

_So Brock was here too._

"Small sips of water or ice chips. He doesn't want to be throwing up right now." Doc answered, amused by them. He hadn't missed Brock hovering. Team guys were something else, all bad ass on the field and teddy bears at heart. He turned to Clay. "How's the headache?"

Clay held up four fingers, then slowly added three more on his other hand when Jason scoffed. The IV line pulled at his skin, annoyed him.

Doc grinned again. "Try not to move around too much, ok?" He turned to Jason and Brock. "Don't keep him up for long. More he rests, faster he'll bounce back."

Turned back to Clay. "Meds are at your disposal, use them. If you're nauseas, have trouble breathing, feel off, let the nurse know immediately. Helps if the bed is slightly raised." Doc adjusted his bed for him, pointed to the medicine dispenser next to him, mouthed 'use it' smiled and left.

Clay squinted, finding it hard to follow the fast moving, quick talking doctor. He was dizzy enough lying down, didn't need the extra heads dancing to the drum in his head, was happy when the man went out the door and took his word supply with him.

"Think the doc is broken." Brock laughed, seeing his face. "He's way too hyper and cheerful to be in this profession."

Jason shrugged, grinning, "Don't care if he's Jumping Jack Flash through the week and Happy the Clown on Saturdays. Man did his job. Fixed Clay."

Jase was just glad the doc had kept traffic to the room at a minimum as promised. He'd let the guys come in and out, but no one other than him and one nurse were allowed to treat or handle Clay. Made it a helluva lot easier to keep track of things.

Brock sobered, Jason let the grin fade, and Clay finally caught the joke and snorted. Sounded pained, but whatever, kid found it funny, and so it lifted both SEAL's moods. Clay was really gonna be ok.

Brock swung his legs aside to let the nurse pass.

Jason chose a cup from a tray the nurse held. Scooped a spoonful of ice chips, held it out for Clay. Nodded that she could take the water and go. He figured the less liquid the kid swallowed the less the urge to upchuck would be. They'd all dealt with concussions at some point.

"Next time you see someone toss a grenade, you duck." Jason warned. "I'm getting too old for this shit."

"Sorry." Clay let the ice melt on his tongue and was grateful for the small relief it brought. Even more grateful when the nausea didn't kick in immediately and his voice held. Must be some good meds…or ice.

"Couldn't let th'm get you." He waved at Brock, squinted up at Jase. Tried to lift an eyebrow, failed. His scalp felt tight. Must be his swollen head or something. He felt around said swollen head, found the bump, a bandage just to the side and winced.

"Don't touch." Jase chided, bringing his hand down. "You had a drain in and have a tennis ball on top. Was on a vent for a bit…is why your throat aches."

_Drain? _

"Ew." Clay pulled a face and looked around the room, ran the same hand up and down his chest, ignored the rolling eyes, knew it'd be a gothic rainbow underneath already, thought about why it was just Brock and Jase. Figured Brock didn't initiate talk with him because he was unsure if Clay was cool with him or not. He was.

"Cerb alright?"

Brock seemed relieved, smiled genuinely. "He's good, back at base. You though, you look like shit, little brother."

"Feel like it too." He sighed. Fidgeted.

Brock looked contrite. "I'm sorry for jumping down your throat before."

Clay gave him a thumbs up, a half smile. Man, he was tired, sore. Didn't want to get into it right now.

"I almost had a heart attack you went down." Brock admitted. "I'm glad you made it back to us."

"Me too." He croaked, looked around the room again, missed the '_us_' in there with them. The banter, the usual laughter and mockery from his brothers. Brock and Jase were here, but the guys weren't, so they were probably still angry and avoiding him. He couldn't understand how it happened. How they'd just thought the worst of him…He felt his eyes prick, had an urge to burst into tears but managed to control it.

Jason got the message. Clay wasn't hard to read once you knew what to look for. He shook his head minutely, met Brock's eyes silently and warned him to back off on that subject.

Told Clay, "Team's been around. I sent them all back to base cos doc only allowed two to stay."

Clay didn't quite believe it, didn't know how he felt about his angry brothers having a sudden guilt ridden turnaround and keeping vigil at his bedside. They way they'd made him feel, he wouldn't have been surprised if they'd just waited to him to quietly die. Still missed the big goofs though, but he let it go, sucked on a second mouthful of ice wondering why he didn't feel awkward that Jason was literally spoon-feeding him. Decided he didn't care. Blamed the knock on his head for all the stupid mixed feelings. Ice helped his throat and Jase was Jase. He'd deal with the team being pissed thing later, when his brain stopped trying to ooze out of his ear. "Need t tell you…somthin'." He tried to steer the conversation away, ended up grimacing when he realized how lame that made him feel.

"Go ahead."

When Clay struggled to begin, Jason asked quietly, "What do you remember?"

"Everythin'. Ev'ry last…thing." He took a shallow breath, tried for a deeper one and winced. Why was it so hard to speak? Gasps were still air, right? He just lay for a while, sniper breathing, trying to ease the heaviness in his chest that had nothing to do with bruised lungs and bust up ribs.

Jason saw the hurt in his eyes that was there for a whole other reason. The hurt he couldn't really hide. Hits to the head always played havoc with emotions and Clay had been having a rough time of it even before the op. He tried to give the kid an out. Work through it. 'Every last thing' meant Emma, the team, the anger, the shots, the explosion. Plus with his throat so raw, breathing still shallow, it was going to be difficult to speak.

"It's ok, we can do this later."

Clay held up two fingers. He wanted to get it done now. "Saw two guys…buildn' across. Were tryn' t take you n'the guys…out. Did what I had to. Would do it 'gain." He closed his eyes, tired, energy waning from just speaking.

"I know." Jason muttered dryly, knowing he would. He was grateful for Clay's quick thinking, but still hated that the kid would put himself in danger for them like that.

"How long?" Clay blinked himself awake, tapped at Jason's wristwatch.

"Been in and out for a just over a day." Jase held up the cup. "More?"

Clay didn't remember the 'in' part. He knew he was out. He shook his head, winced again, remembered the doc's orders, remembered his throbbing skull and aching ribs, stilled.

Jason tsk'd. Smacked the back of his hand when he tried to touch the tube on his face, smacked it again before he reached for his head. Left the cup aside, ice already melting.

"Sucks." He complained.

"You're basically one big bruise right now. Rest, Clay. If you're feeling better we can move you back to base by tomorrow, fly home before the week is out." Jason told him. He didn't want to get into the ambush part right away, or the tornado Clay unearthed, but he would have to soon.

"Em ok?"

"She's fine. With Mikey at my mom's."

"Good." He fidgeted a bit, tried to find the most comfortable spot, didn't find it. Huffed and regretted huffing. "Ow." Remembered the doc's words again and cussed.

Jason tried to help, came up short. "Sorry kid, gonna be uncomfortable for a while."

When Clay groaned, first in frustration and then pain, Jason settled for hitting the button to dispense his IV meds for him. Clay didn't argue.

"Listen to the Boss and rest. We'll be here when you wake up bud." Brock told him, seeing Jason scowl, unable to offer more comfort than the chemical. They waited until Clay drifted off, before Jase sat down again.

"Need to let the guys know he woke up. Properly this time. I can feel my phone vibrate even when they're not messaging. Gonna die of irritation, I swear." Brock watched Clay twitch on and off, sleeping uneasily. Jason leaned forward, placed his hand on Clay's knee and he calmed immediately.

"I'll go make the call."

"Thanks."

"Brock?"

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Tell 'em to give him some time." He knew they'd be shoving each other to get here first, get apologizing done with, try to get back to where they were with Clay as quickly as possible. He also the knew it wasn't fair to force the kid to forgive just yet. It was too soon, and he was still at a disadvantage, stuck in bed, emotionally unstable. Brock nodded in understanding.

Clay forced himself awake a little while after Brock left. "Em ok?" He slurred out the question again.

"Told you a few minutes ago she was." Jase replied patiently but with a frown, wondering 'what the hell?' "Go back to sleep. Don't fight the drugs."

Clay stared blearily at Jason for a long moment…and fought the drugs. Blinked, his eyes half mast but still assessing his Boss. "Op." He said, making a thumbs down sign for 'went south'. "D'liberate, bad int'l."

Jason locked onto the dull blue orbs. Kid was sharp as a tack even drugged to the gills. He wasn't asking.

"How'd you know?"

"Figured, 'fore the boom. Is why I took 'em out."

"Lucky guess?"

"Din' guess. Saw one lift…m'sk from bott'm up to fix ear piece. Lip read. Said he had 'eyes on Bravo'. Knew who we wer..." The words trailed into a huff. Took a moment to catch his breath. Catch his train of thought.

Jason waited for him to gather himself. Watched him doze for a few minutes and wake up again, continue where he left off. Now he was slurring and squeaky. It was not an easy task to decipher his words, but the kid wouldn't rest until he said what he needed to either. Was better to let him get it out.

"Wer' packing 'splos'ves too. Had yall trp'd in alley, no way out...c'llapsing buildin's." Talking exhausted him, the pull of the meds making him sink heavily into the thin mattress.

"Which is why you were on the move before I finished the order to go high."

"Hmm. Gon' sleep."

"You should." Jason told him, tugged the blanket higher.

But Clay wasn't done. "Go home." He mumbled, eyes drifting open again. "Kids…need you…incase anyth..." The words trailed off as he lost the battle with the meds again. Drifted for a few minutes.

"They're safe. Eric has someone watching the house." Jason said when his eyes opened again. Kid was exasperating. What was he? Five years old? This was not a game Jason wanted to play and stubborn had to be Clay's middle name.

He blinked, struggled. Managed to hold his eyes open albeit droopily. "You told…?"

Jase knew he'd pick up on the last statement.

"Had to. Once Eric confirmed the set up, I had to explain. And the guys were shitting themselves cos they didn't understand and..."

"…J'mped to concl'sions…" Clay mumbled tiredly. "Kid's 'r safe?"

"Yes. They are." Jason noticed he skipped over the 'And got pissed' part.

"You bab'sttn me…?"

"Nope, keeping you safe so we can all go home. Together." Jase said softly. "Now go to sleep. Doc doesn't want you awake and my throat is starting to hurt just listening to your Spongebob's Squeaky Shoe voice. Plus I might have to repeat all this again 'cos you keep forgetting."

"Won't." He answered petulantly, relaxed into the pillows. "Forget." He squeaked, lips twitched, amused when Jason went, 'Oi!'.

Jase smiled fondly down at Clay. Cuffed him lightly on the chin. "You're an annoying pain in the ass, Spence, you know that?"

Clay's mouth ticked up sleepily, nasal cannula pulling taut. "Learned from the best, Boss."

Jason chuckled, felt the vice around his chest loosen as he watched Clay's breathing even out, his face go slack, finally asleep, and then he looked up to find Brock grinning in amusement. "Did he just call you…?"

"Shut up Brock."


	12. Chapter 12

_**Yay, I managed an upload! Thought I wouldn't make it. I'm apologizing in advance. I may not always be so on time. Might miss a day or two in between. Some days, life happens hard, adulting becomes a joke and there's isn't enough coffee and chocolate to keep me on top of things :P**_

_**Anyway, I hope you like this one. We're getting there, slowly. Hope all the pieces are fitting where they should, lol. Not much Clay here, but he'll be back next chapter.**_

_**Thank you all for the lovely reviews, all the awesomeness and support and yes, I'm finally figuring out how this place works :D Thanks to all for sharing helpful hints and keeping me going with your words of encouragement. All mistakes are mine ;) Enjoy xxx**_

**12**

Emma padded softly down the hall, checked on her little brother, saw that Mikey was twisted in his sheets, drooling, probably dreaming of baseball and ice cream, smiled to herself and continued down to the kitchen without turning on any lights. The darkness was oppressive, but it hid so much…and she didn't want to disturb her grandmother, who was probably asleep too, it being way past midnight already. She filled her glass, took it back to her room sipping slowly. Sleep wasn't easy to come by these days, and she longed for the innocence of childhood again.

Shutting the door quietly, she leaned against it for a second, eyeing the bed. Although it looked comfortable enough, it was anything but. She hadn't spoken to Clay in days. Wished he was feeling better so he could come home already. There was a lot to tell him. Emma left the glass on the side table, sat for a bit. Picked up her phone and went through the contact list, dialed her dad. He'd have to do. She just needed to hear a familiar voice. Call went to voicemail.

_Typical_.

Flipping the device over in her hands, she settled for going through her messages. Found the last conversation with Clay. Shook her head at his replies. Smiled at the pic of Cerb in goggles, a selfie at the gym. The phone vibrated in her hand, dad's face popping up on screen. Sighing in relief, she answered, "Hey Dad."

There was long moment of silence before his voice reached her. "Hey Em."

She could tell immediately something was off. Her father usually jumped right in with questions or small talk.

"Dad?"

He sighed, long and deep and shaky. Voice cracked and broken when he answered. "Em?…GOD, I don't know how to say this…Clay's gone."

Emma wanted to scream, but her voice abandoned her. She felt the darkness close around her.

_No_!

"There was a complication, a bleed." He sounded dead, like he claimed Clay was.

_No! No no no no no!_

"I'm sorry sweetheart." The monotone grated at her ears.

**NO!**

"There was nothing anyone could do…"

_He's dead._

_Clay's Dead._

_Dead_.

_**Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!**_

White noise filled her ears. Emma screamed at him to stop saying that, but he wouldn't. She felt suffocated, drowned on dry land, struggled for air. Needed to find something to keep her from shattering.

_Clay…_

Despair consumed her.

_**Nonononononononono****!**_

She knew she had to be screaming. Where was her voice?

Clay was gone.

Like her mom.

_No!_

_And the darkness pressed_ _on_...

Emma came awake with a choked gasp, flailing on the bed, sweat on her forehead and tears on her cheeks. The room was still dark. She fumbled for the night light, looked around quickly. No water sat on the side table. Her phone was still on her bag on the floor. Emma shivered, swiped at her face. Breathed shakily. Grasped her hair and shuddered. She dragged a hand over her face again, let them cover her eyes until the shaking eased. Breathed out in a slow exhale.

Nightmare…

Edgy, unsettled, she reached for the phone and called her father. She needed to know. Needed something to ground her.

He answered on the first ring. "Em? Everything alright?"

"Dad?" The dam burst.

Jason, worried silly at her lack of sense as she babbled on about Mikey, then water, and Clay and bleed, and death…and he eventually managed to get her to calm down enough so he understood the last part. Was probably her third attempt at explaining what happened when he finally caught on. Emma had had a nightmare.

About Clay.

_Dying_…

Jason's gut knotted, eyes fixed on Clay from where he stood with a white knuckled grip on his phone.

"He's fine, Em. Bruised, but breathing. I'm sending you a pic. See for yourself, ok?"

She hiccupped, sniffed. "K."

He clicked a pic of a sleeping Clay and forwarded it to her.

And Emma burst into a whole new round of tears. But this time, they weren't panicked. They were relieved.

Finally accepting that he was well enough, she cleared her throat. Spoke so low he had to strain to hear her.

"Um, Dad, there's something I have to tell you."

"Go on."

And Emma told him everything. About the party, all the parts she left out about the attack, about the threats, missed calls, about Clay's help, him trying to find the guy and all the dead ends. About the fear and the anger, the uncertainty.

Jason didn't know how Clay did it, when he saw first hand the horror Emma had to face. When he heard directly from her how all of this affected her. Jase had found out via Clay, and that had been tough enough to deal with. Now that she'd opened up, he had no idea where to start consoling without smothering. He was loath to admit it, but it had been kinda easier to pretend. Lisa was right, they were all brutes. He wished Alana was here, walking him through it. Wish they'd never had to deal with shit like this in the first place, wished Clay was awake so he could take over…felt like a coward, swallowed his own anger, his own fear and did what dads did, what they were supposed to do. He talked his daughter through it. Told her he loved her no matter what. That he was proud of her for being so strong, for fighting, for telling him...

She admitted it would have buried her alive if it wasn't for Clay. And Jason did thank Lana then, for having had the foresight of bringing Clay into the folds of their family. A Guardian Angel still watching over her children, over him…

"Do you know who the guy was Em? A name? Which school he goes to? Anything?" He fished slyly.

"No." She sighed. "I didn't know half the people at the party, dad. It was irresponsible of me to get drunk in an unfamiliar place. Lesson learned."

Jason winced at the self recrimination. "It's not your fault Emma. No one should be put in that position, ever. Regardless of where you were."

She sighed, sad and tired.

"Did Clay get a name?" He asked.

"Probably. He didn't mention anyone to me. Said he'd handle it, and I should work on my college entrance exams, not let this thing take over my life. Said it wasn't worth it to lose this year, or it'd stop my whole life from moving forward. Time past is lost for good. Can't get it back, so might as well go on."

"Kid's right. You need to keep going Em. Can't let this hold you back no matter what."

"It's still fresh, dad, but I'm working through it, and I'll get there."

"No doubt you will, Emma. You're a Hayes. Jason said with conviction, love and pride filling his voice.

After a beat, "I feel kinda relieved you know, dad. Wish I'd told you sooner…"

"You told me, that what matters. Wish I was there when you did though."

"I wasn't thinking straight. I am now."

Then, "Those threats you mentioned Em? …Can you forward them to me? See if I can get anything from it."

"Um, those…the ones I did have were on my old numbers. We changed them twice, remember? Clay has the cards. Got a new one before you guys left a couple days ago. He added the number to your phone and his, but I haven't had any more messages since yall got spun up."

Jason frowned. _Odd_…

"None at all? No missed calls? Nothing?"

"Nope. Nothing. Is why I was asleep, else thinking about it drives me insane." She admitted. "Thought they gave up finally. And then I had that damned nightmare…" She finished, sounding upset again.

"Shh, don't go there. Clay's fine. I'll get him to call you when he's up, ok." Jason pacified.

"Let him rest up dad. He needs a break from this too. I'm ok. Just, bring him home…in one piece."

"Love you, sweetheart."

"Love you too dad."

She hung up sounding calmer and Jason breathed deeply to keep from smashing the phone.

Something was definitely not adding up. They were all over Emma to shut up, suddenly they're spun and everything stops? No, Clay was holding the trump card here. He itched to do like Sonny and force the kid awake, but one look at Clay showed how exhausted he was from just trying to breathe right and he couldn't bring himself to do it. He'd been on the phone with Emma for over an hour and Clay hadn't so much as twitched. He dialed Eric, told him what Emma said about the threats and calls stopping. Eric told him that they hadn't yet declared Clay's correct medical status to anyone. Left him listed as critical because chatter indicated someone was looking for word on Bravo. They knew someone was down, couldn't get much else because Mandy had them running circles.

_Thank_ _you_ _Mandy!_

Eric was already making arrangements to have Clay moved. Not to infirmary. Maybe to base, maybe get doc to give them the all clear so they could fly him home. He'd find the best option and get back to him. There could be eyes and ears anywhere. They had to be careful, keep this quiet, make sure someone was with Clay at all times. Kid was wearing a bullseye. As it stood, anyone from Bravo was. But Clay was the only one who could blow this shit up, and right now the only one who knew what that shit was, so it made sense they'd try and get to him first, especially since he was down. Because that too, wouldn't be difficult to explain. Kid was already hurting, and an undeclared medical status's would just make it easier for them to cover anything up.

He cursed. Then called Ray, asked him to make sure the guys stayed in. No drinking alone, stick together and try and keep hush about Clay. Pack up all their stuff. Explained why. Ray didn't take it well. Nor did the rest of Bravo, all talking at once in the background soon as they heard.

Their Commander called back. "I'm coming over, talked to doc. Will explain when I see you."

Jason didn't reply.

Clay was out like a light and for the first time in hours, comfortable. The shallow breathing left him tired, knock to the head kept him pliable, drowsy. Meds held him under for longer, but this may be the last peaceful sleep he was gonna have, seeing as he was also the eye of the storm brewing around them.

Clay…What did you walk into?

"What do you mean they're flying him home?" Sonny paced the small space like an angry bear. "Kid can barely come awake."

Trent shoved a chair behind him on his return. "Sit, you're making me dizzy. We're all flying home. With him, remember?"

"I don't like it." Sonny complained, sitting. He bounced his leg up and down. "I need a drink. I need a wall to punch through. Hell I need a nice big bazooka and the license plate of the punk who hurt Emma!"

"Yeah, yeah, we know. Can't always get what we want though, can we?" Ray grumbled.

The Texan crossed his arms over his chest and cursed a blue streak, ignoring Ray.

Brock leaned over and scratched their furry brother's head. "You're like a toddler with a tantrum, Son. You need a rattle me and Cerb can find you a snake."

The dog whuffed when he heard his name, twisted his head so Brock could get behind his ears.

"He gonna manage the flight the state he's in?" Sonny asked.

"Doc won't agree to it if he's at risk. He's asleep now, and they can keep him that way until we get home. Kid won't know a thing." Trent said.

"Sedated? Again? He'll be pissed, he wakes in a new damned zip code." Ray told them. "I know I would be."

"Can't be helped. His body's had enough, forced him into time out, now they need to be on the move and can't keep him awake long enough to explain. Might as well let him sleep through it. Will be easier on him." Trent shrugged.

Ray sighed. "We're all gonna be stuffed in the same space this time tomorrow, he'll most probably be up, and I got no way to face our brother."

And that was their biggest issue, really.

Their things were all packed and ready to go. Jason's and Clay's too. They were just waiting for them to get here. What Ray said gave them all pause.

"We've been beating ourselves up about this, but that ain't gonna help." Sonny said. "We need to own up to the mistakes we made and hope he forgives us. Won't do no good he needs our help and feels he can't come to us."

"Still gotta give him space." Brock reminded them. "No use pushing too hard and he pushes back."

"You shut up." Sonny griped. "Damn you for getting your sorry in already."

Brock held up both hands. "He may be mad, but he missed you. All of you. Asked a few times if the team was alright, looked around for you."

Three guilty heads lowered.

"Kid may be angry now, but he's not beyond forgiveness.' Brock said. "Just confused.

Ray leaned back on the chair, balancing it on the back legs. "We made strides with him, let him relax, feel safe, feel he was a part of us, and then ripped the brotherhood right out from under him." He let the chair drop with a thunk. Leaned forward, anger lacing his words. "We screwed up. Didn't ask. Judged too harsh, went down the wrong road with it. We knew what Ash put him through. Knew how hard he worked for acceptance, for understanding. We should have had the balls to confront him instead of making up a whole load of bull and going with it. He had our backs even after we were dicks to him. Not even the hounds hell can gonna stop us from returning that favour."

"You're right. He fell, but not too far down. We can still get him back." Trent told his brothers. "We've got to believe that."

The call came two minutes later, and they were on the move, talk of forgiveness and apologies pushed away to make room for planning and strategizing. No one cared that the threat involved them all. Bravo was a team, they'd go in together, get out together. Whatever Clay had walked into, it wasn't his fault. He'd been trying to do the right thing. Trying to help someone. So he managed to uncover something the higher ups didn't want found out, so what? He didn't deserve to die for it. Whoever was trying to pick them out had better watch out. They weren't gonna take this lying down.

Lisa saw them on the tarmac, bag in hand, she made her way towards her team. She watched her boys stand two on each side of the ambulance while they unloaded Clay and rolled him up the ramp, Eric and Jason following, the guys only relaxing their weapons when he was safely inside. The last couple weeks had been hell on Jason and Clay, the last few days hell on them all. Lisa hoped they could all find their way back together again. Mandy waved them off. Would catch up to them in a couple days. For now, they had to play their cards right while she kept stonewalling the other side.

**_Yet_ **_**to be** **named** **antagonist ...**_

Tendrils of smoke wisped and wafted, curling under the light. He watched it swirl, dissipate. If only this shit they were in was so easy to dissolve into nothing…

Idiot was his father's son alright, chasing skirts, trying to get lucky any way he could. He always told Idiot and Moron this mess was gonna hit them in the face one day. How'd he even end up with them as his blood relatives? His own damned son and Grandson. Now Idiot sported a homing beacon on his ugly mug,courtesy of the girl, and Moron found out from a friend that his son came up on a DNA search in a Naval database.

Of all the people on this whole damned earth, he goes and messes with Emma Friggin' Hayes. Hayes! Ok, maybe Idiot didn't know it was her at first, so they helped him and tried to throw her off guard like they did the other girls, only, she had a damned pitbull watching over her. Clay Spenser. Once they realized that he was in the picture, it became a matter of time before everything they'd worked for would be blown to smithereens.

Spenser was Bravo.

Bravo was a beast.

And you dealt with a beast limb by limb.

Else it'd tear you to shreds.

They'd already gotten one limb.

If they didn't move fast enough, the rest of the beast would continue to attack.

He didn't want that happening.

Nope, not at all.

...

_**And that's a wrap :D Next one coming soon xxx Lemme know your thoughts :) Makes my day a whole lot brighter :D**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**I don't know how, but every chapter is getting longer :P I may or may not post for the next two or three days. All depends on the visit to the doc. My little one isn't well, it's a long term thing, so constant checks, sometimes overnight stays at the hospital (I stay with and don't sleep a wink for as long as we're there) so I apologize in advance. **_

**_Thank you all for being the coolest bunch of people I have had the pleasure of meeting. You're all too kind, such beautiful hearts :) Yall keep me sane. This fandom is truly the best xxx_**

**_PS. All mistakes are my own, no Beta to blame :D_**

**13**

Clay woke up alone.

An overwhelming feeling of isolation gripped him, worry followed quickly behind. Something must have happened if Jason wasn't here. He remembered everything right up until the blast. Remembered talking to Jason before falling asleep. Wracked his sore brain for a clue as to what he could have missed. Came up blank. Jason had confirmed that the there was a set up. Said he'd spoken to Blackburn, to the guys…the truth was out. _They_ _knew_.

He groaned, didn't know how he felt about that. Chose to keep on ignoring it for now. Something else niggled at him but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

He took a breath in as deeply as he could, let it out. Calmed himself. Took stock. His head felt better, still tender, ached, but not as bad as before. Ribs were wrapped, made breathing both easier and more difficult, but the pain was manageable. IV was gone, thank goodness. He was out of the hospital for sure, but this didn't look like the base infirmary. He was on a bed, but it wasn't the one he shared with his team. Couldn't be Jason's room…would have been two bunks in there, for him and Ray.

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He needed to know where he was, but he also needed to pee. He spotted a door to the side, figured it could only be one thing, decided to chance it.

Clay sat up, waited to see if he could manage without toppling. Decided he could, tossed the blanket, swung his legs down the side. He got a head rush, leaned back a bit, jerked when his ribs protested. Nausea, pain and dizziness all hit at once. He paled, broke out in a sweat. Closed his eyes, panted, waited for the ringing to stop, the pain to ease. He looked down, realized he was in his own clothes, shorts and a T, wondered who dressed him and how he made this trip without being aware…

Last thing he remembered was falling asleep at the hospital.

He heard Jason's voice come closer from outside the door, almost sagged off the bed in relief, heard another voice join his. They stopped at the threshold, door opened a crack. Sounded like Blackburn, but he couldn't quite make out what they were taking about. He sat for a moment, blinking stupidly at the door, not with it enough to pay attention.

Jason leaned in, saw he was up, grinned, then frowned because he was sitting. He pushed the door all the way open and shook his head.

"Leave you alone for two minutes…"

Jase saw the light sheen of sweat on his forehead, put the pieces together. "Pain?"

"Tolerable. Haven't been up in a while. Just need a minute." Clay smiled tightly, glad his voice wasn't crackling like before.

Their Commander followed Jason in. "Spenser, good to see you up." He eyed Clay. "On second thought, you should probably lay down."

"Commander Blackburn." Clay greeted. He turned to Jason, bit his lip.

"Bathroom?" Jason guessed.

Clay nodded gingerly. "Need a shower too." He tugged on the sticky T shirt.

"One thing at a time, kid." He helped Clay off the bed, gripped him around the waist to steady his wobbly legs, waited until he locked his knees and stayed upright before walking him the few short steps to the bathroom.

Blackburn waited until Clay was inside. "Give him a few to get his bearings, but we need to talk to him ASAP." He told Jason. "Sooner we know, sooner we can do something."

Doc knocked him out good, and Clay had slept right through the transport and flight back home. Trent had checked him over, watched him on the flight, made sure he was alright when they settled him in an hour ago. They were back at base, waiting for an all clear to sneak Clay out again to Jason's place. Keep things under wraps, enough space for the team to crash. On hand back up if needed. Right now he was in Eric's room, but Jase knew they'd be moving soon.

He heard the toilet flush, tap open.

Eric looked at Jason sternly. "Guys need to hash this out."

Jason glared back stubbornly, unwilling to force Clay's hand.

"Maybe not all at once. Eric conceded. "But they need to talk. Trent is gonna keep an eye on him once you're out of here, but it won't be of any use if they don't get past this. Might get awkward. Things get worse, yall need to be on the same page or we're gonna have a repeat of the alley."

Jason couldn't argue that.

"Get him to eat, hydrate. See if you can get him to talk after. He manages to walk out of here will make my job easier." Eric told him. Left.

The water stopped running. Jason knocked, opened the door a bit. Found Clay leaning against the sink, face, hair and T shirt soaked. He shook his head. "Hands are down there bud."

"Needed a wash." He gulped, dropped his head, let the water drip.

Jason looked around, didn't see a towel, gestured to Clay's arms. "Can you lift them up?" Clay tried, hunched over before he got half way.

"Ugh." He lowered his arms. "Ow."

"Dammit. I told them to get you a button front." He pulled out a knife from his boot, used it to cut the T. Used the T to dry off Clay's hair, careful of the lump on his head and the stitch. Dried his face. Took off his own shirt, leaving his black T on, and slipped one sleeve through Clay's right arm, pulled it all the way through, checked the wrap on his chest was dry, repeated the sleeve action on the other side. He steadied him, put on the third and fourth buttons, left the rest undone. Internally winced at the colorful bruising that went right up to his shoulders, on his arms, face. Blonde hair stuck up every which way, mussed and unruly, blue eyes milky with exhaustion, the whites still bloodshot, shirt two sizes too big…Clay blinked.

Yeah beard or no beard, this was Bravo's kid.

"Thanks." Clay breathed, swaying on the spot, coughed. He let Jason help him from the bathroom. "Need to lie down now."

The doc did say he might want to sleep a lot the next few days, to let him rest as much as he needed. Had sent them with a stash of meds, all the good stuff, warned them to make sure he ate first. Didn't need an ulcer on top of everything else. To keep an eye if his cough got worse or he started running a fever. They'd sprung him, but he was clearly far from well. The doctor had understood, asked them to call anytime and he'd see what he could do to help, even from miles away. He was grateful they'd landed that doc.

The short trip to the bathroom had Clay winded. Jason still hoped they hadn't made the wrong decision by forcing Clay's release. Eric was pushing for 'the talk', the guys were sulking, desperate to see Clay, to apologize to him, get him through this…All he wanted was the kid safe, rested and pain free.

The guys had gone on ahead, they'd be meeting up at Jason's within the hour, would wait for them to join soon as Clay was up for it.

He let the kid sit for a minute, passed him some water, uncovered a tray on the table at the side, handed him a bowl of oatmeal that Clay balked at. Kid reached for the jello and the custard bowl, pushed the oats aside with a small gag. Sat with the red jello in one hand, spoon in the other, made no move to eat it.

"Pain?"

"It's alright." Clay stared at the floor, breathing slowly in and out.

"Throat hurt?" Jason asked.

"Not too bad, more worried about puking."

"Nauseas?"

"Headache." Clay blew out a breath, rubbed the back of his spoon hand over his forehead. Jason took the cup from him, tore off the top, handed it back. "Probably cos you're hungry. Need to eat to before you take any meds. You're due for some and you haven't eaten in days. Is why you feel light headed, have that headache. Doc said you can try proper food once you feel you can keep these down."

"Probably right." Clay agreed, took a bite gingerly. He had to admit he felt a little better after finishing it, maybe the sugar, maybe the coolness of the jello. Headache was there, but the dull ache had moved to the background.

"How's Em doing?" Clay handed the empty bowl and spoon back to Jason.

"Was a little freaked out last night. Had a nightmare. She finally opened up." Jason told him.

"Yeah? Must have been some nightmare. She told you everything?"

Jason really didn't want to bring that up. It had freaked him out too. "Everything."

"I'm glad she did. This thing's eating her up, J. The more support she has the better. I should give her a call."

"Give it a day. She'll kill me she hears you sounding like that. Probably think I'm not taking care of you like I promised."

Clay grinned. Felt nice hearing that. "Al...right." He dragged the word out. "But only so you don't get in trouble."

Jason bumped shoulders with him. "Still need to lie down?" He also needed to steer the subject to something more urgent.

"I'm good." He took the pills Jason held out, washed it down with some water, waited for it to do its job still sitting up.

Jason gave an exasperated sigh. "Don't push it. Gonna need your strength." He helped Clay to lie down, sat down next to him on the bed again, watched the kid, then the door. Gave Clay the time he needed while he thought about the best way to bring this up.

Kid beat him to it.

"Where are we?" Clay asked.

"Base." Jason replied without turning. He rubbed his palms together, elbows on his knees.

"Home?" Clay asked, considering the room. "We in Blackburn's quarters?"

"Yep."

"Damn." Clay muttered, wondering what happened to all the lost time, all the lines they were hopscotching over…he was in the Commander's room, relaxing on his bed, back at home base, had flown hours unaware, been clothed somehow. He hated his lack of awareness…What prompted the quick return? Was the team safe? A thought struck him, turning his blood to ice.

"It's my fault, isn't it." He asked quietly, pulling himself painfully up.

"What?" Jase asked, turning to help him.

"The alley. Set up was because of me, wasn't it?" Clay asked, teeth grinding together, eyes hard. The niggling feeling he had earlier became more pronounced.

Jason exhaled loudly. Didn't disagree but he had to make sure the kid knew they didn't blame him. "It's not your fault, but yeah, looks like you're in the middle of it."

"Then how's it not my fault, Clay pulled himself to the edge, let one leg down on the side of the bed, folded the other underneath his thigh next to Jason. "Someone trying to shut me up?"

When Jason remained quiet, he cursed. "That's it, isn't it? That's why you told Eric and the team. After you heard about the bad intel you figured it was because of the guy I was looking into, right? 'Cos I told you they were brass?"

"What did you find?" Jason asked finally, handing Clay some water. He'd already cleared his throat twice, didn't want it to get worse. There was no use denying their suspicions. Clay needed to be on board.

Clay shrugged, sipped. "Not sure, Jase. Are the kids safe? Team?" His stomach knotted and twisted. His headache ratcheted and the water and jello both threatened to make a reappearance. What had he done?

"They're safe, team's safe." Jason stood, pulled out his phone, hesitated, looked at Clay. "You gonna gimme a name or make me beg?"

"Braun." Clay slanted his eyes, watched Jason tense, lower the phone. "Joshua Braun, the kid that attacked Em. His father is Captain Elijah Braun, Rear Admiral Matthew Braun is brother to Joshua's Grandfather…"

"Admiral Jacob Braun…"Jason finished." Squatted in front of Clay, blew out a breath. Damn.

This really went all the way to the top. Their names came up now and then during briefing. They weren't to be trifled with.

"Kid's not in school is he?"

"Dropped out of college a year ago, had some trouble with the faculty, some complaints about behavior. Last born, black sheep, he refused to enlist like the rest of the family, but they helped cover up some of his misadventures, needed to keep the family name clean." Clay said, clearing his throat again.

"You find anything that suggests something other than drugging girls to take advantage of them?"

Clay shrugged tiredly, thought about it, blew out a slow breath, coughed, rubbed a hand over his chest, let it stay. Squinted at Jason. "Trying to fish out information on the guy wasn't easy. I wasn't looking into everyone, just Joshua. But then as I got deeper into it, the other names kept popping up and there were some things that didn't add up. Like all the redacted files…"

"Joshua wouldn't have those…he's not military."

Clay shook his head. "No, but the other Brauns would."

"How'd you get him on a Naval database?"

"We didn't. Used the mainframe to access it, must have found something from a previous messup that matched with one on the list…I dunno. My contact has clearance for most files, but still, there were numerous ones where access wasn't granted. Would have probably had more info if we didn't get spun up. Guess they thought I know something or would soon. Decided to put a stop to it."

"Come across anything on Commander Sloan?"

Cray frowned, thought for a second. "Uh, yeah. His team ran into an ambush uh…think bout a year ago."

"Find out how it happened?"

Clay shook his head slowly. "Um, was he was working under Commander Braun at the time, that's all I got. Didn't think much of it. Wait, you think it has something to do with this?"

Jason explained what Eric said about the op. "While digging into the guys you took out, one of them led to a name, linked it to some mercenaries for hire, found them to be directly related to the attack on Sloan's team. Was something similar a few years before, can't access those files either. Now if he was working under Braun…that there's got to be the reason that hint was dropped."

"But Sloan's alive."

"Half his team isn't." Jason said. "We don't know who the target was, don't know what they were targeted for. No one knows how these mercenaries operate, but what we found so far indicates they prefer to hit on the battlefield. Less questions. How they get their information, why they're sent in, who funds them…we have no idea. This thing could be an octopus right now."

Clay yawned, winced, rubbed his eye with the back of his hand. "Whatever is going on, I got too close for their comfort. Now the whole of Bravo is on the shit list. One more thing to be pissed at me for." He looked up tiredly. "'M sorry, Jase."

Jason tskd. "Don't even start with that."

Clay leaned back slightly, balancing on his arms. It was clear the meds had started to work and they were going to have to move soon.

"Lie down, Clay. You're about ready to pass out. I'll let Blackburn know what you told me."

Clay dozed uneasily while Jason made the call. Fifteen minutes later, he shook Clay awake. "Sorry bud, we gotta go." He forced Clay upright as gently as he could, knelt down, pulled his legs off the bed, steadied him, put on his socks, stuck his feet into the bottoms of a pair of track pants, stuffed both feet into sneakers, helped him to stand and pulled his pants all the way up.

"We're going to my place. Team's waiting there for us."

"K."

He left Clay sitting, kid slid sideways until his shoulder found the pillows.

"Time is it?"

"Little past 8pm." Jason picked up an open front hoodie, helped Clay into it and pulled the hood over his head. Would work better than a cap.

"Gonna need you to walk out of here, can you do that?"

He let Clay lean again.

"Uh, hmm…Yeah."

"We're headed for the parking lot." Jase gathered all his meds, a couple bottles of water, the custard…Put them in a backpack, straps over his shoulder, lifted a drowsy Clay again and made him stand.

"It's not too far. Gonna have to manage it." He warned when Clay tilted to the side.

He held up one finger, asked for a minute.

"I'll manage." Clay steadied himself, took a few short breaths to clear the fog in his head, get his bearings. "Ok, I'm good."

Jason let go, watched him meander through the door, stayed close incase Clay toppled.

Kid was quiet, he huffed a time or two, coughed, stuffed his hand into his pockets and hunched over slightly, but he walked beside with Jason, no complaints.

All Clay knew was that they needed to go, and where Jason went, he followed. He was miserable, legs were rubbery and by the time they made it to the car, he was dizzy, sweaty, sticky, seeing double and all he wanted to do was curl into a ball and sleep for a month. He bypassed curling into a ball, was too painful, knew he wouldn't get a month off, sighed sadly and resigned himself to a nap in the front seat. He struggled out of the hoodie, lethargically pushed back his hair from his eyes, fumbled with the seat belt, took a breather.

He was out before Jason buckled him in.

The ride was short, fast, and silent. Clay dozed for the twenty minutes it took for Jason to pull up in his driveway. They'd used a rental, the guys were on alert, armed and ready when they saw it pull into the drive.

Ray held up a hand. "It's Jason."

The door opened, four sets of eyes scanned the street, gave them an all clear.

Jason waved at the guys, leaned over, undid the seatbelt. "Clay?"

"I'm up. You can drive." Clay mumbled, coming half awake. Jason shook his head, got out, went to the other side, opened the door and bent over.

"We're here." He gave the kid another minute to pull himself together. Clay clenched his jaw, let his eyes slide over the front windshield, knew the team would be there, they were. He dropped one leg, then the other, reached a hand out for Jason. Let him take most of weight as he lifted him.

"Ought to be fun." He muttered under his breath as he shuffled slowly, one arm securely held in Jason's hand.

"One step at a time, kid."

Clay stopped, took a breath, coughed, it rattled his head, spiked a headache from his eyes up, his breath hitched, made him cough again, made Jason grab him around the waist to keep him from face planting, and suddenly Trent was there.

"Let's get you inside." He looked over Clay's head at Jason, frowned unhappily. Kid was clammy, trembling. Too pale.

"He take anything?"

Jason nodded. "Little less than an hour ago. Thought it'd be best to make a move before they wore off." He asked Brock to get the bag from the car.

"He should be resting." Clay was sagging between them, carrying almost none of his own weight.

"I'm ok." He gasped, coughed. "Mmm…" Cough. "Tired…"

"Gonna have you lying down in a second." Trent said. "Easy, step."

Clay dragged his feet over the threshold. "Th'nks."

The guys gave them a wide berth, let them pass, Trent lay Clay on the couch, would be uncomfortable, but it was closer than the bed.

"Hurt to breath?" Trent asked, unbuttoning the shirt he had on and checking the wrap on his chest.

"Everyt'hng hu'rs." Clay left his eyes closed, turned slightly, let Trent take his pulse, listen to his breathing and suddenly went slack.

"What the hell, Trent? He ok?" Sonny asked, leaning over them.

"Kid was blown up less than three days ago." He shrugged. "Over exerted himself. Too much too soon. Pushing to function through the meds…Take your pick Son."

"Gonna leave him here?" Brock asked.

"Yeah, for now. Let him sleep, I'll check him properly when he can answer a few questions himself, get him settled in bed."

He stepped back while Ray threw a light blanket over Clay, Sonny brought it up to his chin before sitting on the armrest.

"There's pizza, ordered a shitload. Spense should be ok while we eat, right?" Ray asked, saw Trent wanted to speak to Jase, he kept glancing at Sonny. Figured Trent didn't want to talk in front of the Texan so he gestured for them to follow him. Sonny and Brock ambled off to the kitchen behind him.

Trent turned to Jason.

"How long's he had this cough?" Trent crouched at Clay's side, palmed his forehead, frowned.

"Wasn't so bad when we left the base." Jason worriedly ran a hand across his mouth.

"I don't like this Jase. I don't like that we gotta drag his ass all over the place the state he's in. He should be in the hospital. On the good stuff, bruised lungs are no joke. He don't breath deep enough they're gonna fill up with fluid. Is why he's coughing. To get more oxygen. Otherwise he's gonna end up worse, pneumonia, fever…we don't want to go there. Not now."

Jason planted his butt on the coffee table. "Don't like it any more than you do."

Trent was quiet, doing as Jason did. Then, "Let's go eat. We're all cranky when we're hungry."

Jason gestured for him to go, stared at Clay for a long moment. Kid found trouble even when he wasn't out looking for it. He sighed. Did that a lot lately. He needed to see his children. Would have to go over and visit them. So far no one knew they'd returned. Or that Clay was with them. Eric had made sure to cover their tracks, should buy them some time to come up with a plan, figure out the endgame. Man he was exhausted. Had only catnapped the last couple days, been awake half the night for the last month. And he needed to square things over with his team properly, with his best friend. They hadn't been together in a few days. It was going to be another long night.

Ray handed him a plate. "Blackburn sent some guys over to do a sweep earlier. No bugs, no devices. Said to be careful what news we pass along. Support is on call should we need them."

"Good. He should be here by 10. Kid spilled." Jason said, taking a huge bite out of his slice.

"Yeah?" Brock asked, rolling a string of cheese around his finger. "Gonna tell us?"

Jason swallowed his mouthful, sipped his beer, one wouldn't hurt. Told them what they needed to hear. Expected the backlash, took it in stride.

"All Braun no brain.? Sonny snorted. "What? The kid thought he'd get away with it when Clay Spenser is the one chasing him down? He had no idea our boy loves to run. he caught the whole damned family."

"He's worried." Jason said, his face serious, joke went right over his head.

"Clay? What the hell for?" Ray asked.

"About you all. That this is his fault. That this is gonna give you all another reason to be pissed at him." He stacked his plate on the pile, looked up to find them all staring.

"We're not pissed at him." Sonny almost yelled, keeping his voice down at the last second.

"This isn't his fault." Ray said at the same time.

"He doesn't know that." Jason told them gruffly. "Hasn't had time to process anything."

"We'll have his back." Trent promised solemnly.

"One beating heart, right?" Brock held up his bottle, waited for his brothers to do the same.

"One beating heart." They agreed.

_Okidokes, another one done :) Hope you liked it. Reviews are always welcome :D Thank you for reading xxx_


	14. Chapter 14

_**Hi, thank you all for the well wishes for my little one, the prayers, support and understanding. Just have to keep my fingers crossed that the next trip to the doc brings us some good news. Sometimes we learn the biggest lessons from the littlest people, and patience, strength and hope are the ones relearn daily. **_

_**Finally found a moment to update (yass!) Thank you all for the awesome reviews, all the faves and follows :D I'm astounded! **_

_**Also, ALL mistakes are mine, and if you find any inconsistencies with what you've read so far, kindly point them out. Still no Beta :P**_

_**I hope you enjoy xxx**_

**14**

Admiral Braun took the phone away from his ear and stared out of the window. The voice droned on, but he wasn't interested anymore. He left the device on the sill, ended the call, folded his hands behind his back and contemplated his next move. Sky was clear, their path wasn't. He'd lost two men trying to take out Bravo, was prepared to lose a few more. The good thing about this operation was that it went even higher than he did. Use of mercenaries wasn't unheard of, they got in, got the job done, took what they wanted and didn't give a shit as long as the loot was good, the bad thing was, if those higher than him discovered that he'd been using the same for his own benefit…well, he could kiss his freedom goodbye.

A lit cigar rested comfortably between his two fingers, the dragon's tail of smoke swirling gently behind him. These were difficult to procure, but he liked rare things. Which was why he didn't want anyone interfering in his business. Retirement was knocking, and he wanted full control of this situation before he stepped down.

That damned Tier One team had gone dark and his people could not pilfer the details without throwing his name around. The way things had gone down, he didn't want to have anything linking him to Bravo. Whatever Spenser had found was superficial, but given a chance, one wrong stroke of a keyboard would undo all his life's work. All he knew was that there was one down among the team, how seriously, he hadn't a clue. What he did know for certain, was that someone had been digging, more so after the mission they'd tried to sabotage. That someone had also managed to stonewall their own efforts at every turn. He could lay low, but that wouldn't solve his problem. He paid good money to make sure their organization worked without a hitch, until Joshua. A few years ago Elijah had done the same thing, he'd gone and drawn attention to them. They'd almost gotten caught then too, but at the last minute he'd managed to pull strings, call in favors and use the dirtiest tricks he could to get things tidied up.

His moron of a son had gone on to command his own team, somehow, slipped up again, and then he'd had to call his clean up crew to settle the dust. Moron was Captain now, after the trail ended with a bunch of redacted files only a select few had access to, and those select few were intelligent enough not to question his motives. Commander Blackburn was a tricky one. Bravo ran under him, he could make the call, lure them out, but if that kid had already alerted them to Joshua, then there was no telling where this would end. Well, in death, but he wasn't planning to die anytime soon. Keeping his idiot grandson in the clear was the biggest mistake he'd made. Should have let the bastard go down for this. But everything was already in motion now, and he was paying a damned fortune to stop the crash before he burned with it. He picked up the phone, dialed a number he used very seldom and arranged to meet. It was risky, but it had to be done. And it had to be done now.

Eric was late. He'd call when he could make it, if he couldn't, was probably something important. It was going midnight when Jason checked his watch, cleared the empty bottles and boxes from the kitchen, tossed them and the paper plates in the garbage. They were sitting ducks until their Commander got there. He needed to get Clay to bed or he was gonna feel that couch later. Remembered he was due for meds, went to grab the bag, found it gone.

Trent had already beat him to it, he had everything on the coffee table, ready to wake the kid. Jason was about to stop him, go do it himself. Decided at the last minute to stand down, see what happened, see how Clay took it…They were all trained in first aid, Trent had a better grasp of it though, a clearer head, more experience, less fear, and he'd handled Clay before, would be the one they looked to now if the kid needed help. Only thing concerned him was whether Clay would allow him to.

Trent wasn't gentle by any means, but they were all familiar with his touch, his voice, and even when they were half out of their minds in pain and confusion, he had a way of grounding them. Jason looked behind him to find Sonny and Brock, they did as he did and wondered about the same before cutting Trent some slack and heading off towards Mikey's room with their stuff, a chew toy for Cerb that Brock had fetched from the car. Their canine brother had the room to himself right now, they'd kept him from hopping up and disturbing Clay. He loved the kid as much as he did Brock and would have been all over him trying to offer comfort. Usually they would let him stay, but Clay was already running on fumes when he got there and had passed out immediately, so they did want him disturbed. They'd even kept their own voices down, even though he would have probably slept through an earthquake about then. Ray hung back with him, shoulder to shoulder, watching as Trent brushed his hand through Clay's hair, felt for the bump on his head, brought his palm to the kid's forehead, then shoulder, and slowly brought him out of sleep.

"Clay?"

"Hmm…"

"Need you awake, buddy. Gotta check you over."

"Tr'nt?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Clay blinked, couldn't quite keep his eyes open. "Gett'n up." He forced himself into awareness, "Time is it?"

"Little after midnight. Can you sit up?"

Clay didn't answer. Just pulled himself up gingerly and leaned against the back of the couch, feet on the floor. Let his eyes drift across the empty room.

"How's the head?"

"Tender, not hurtn' like before." He rubbed both eyes with the heels of his hand, yawned, hunched over from the action.

Trent waited for him to settle, unbuttoned his shirt, undid the wrap. Poked and prodded, Clay hissed, jerked away, didn't say anything. He was purple, blue green and yellow from shoulder to belly button, some splotches angrier than the others, but a spectacular coloring book nonetheless. His spilt lip was healing, bruises under both eyes, scratches on his face, they were all superficial. The stiches at the side of his head was ok, the small swatch of missing hair starting to grow in slowly. Lump on top had gone down some, head should feel better in a few days. He would be hurting, the meds having worn out by now, but Clay didn't say it so Trent had to ask.

"Pain?" Trent left the wrap on the table behind him. Would help to breathe easier without it, though it might make the ribs feel worse. He told him so.

Clay scratched at his beard.

"S'ok." He coughed, covered said ribs with an arm. It looked agonizing. Trent bit back a wince on his behalf, knew he was lying, didn't call him on it.

"Think you can manage somethin' to eat?"

"Not hungry. Just wanna go back to sleep."

Oh…kay. Trent couldn't tell if he was cranky from everything he'd been through or just unwilling to take anything from him. Decided to test his theory. "You have pills to help with pain, should take 'em." Trent told him.

"Don't need 'em." Clay closed his eyes. Coughed, grimaced.

So…he wasn't going to make this easy. "Need to take deep breaths, cough will ease up some." Trent patted his knee, felt him flinch, hated that he'd caused him to. Clay slid his eyes open, stared at him quietly, made Trent want to squirm, but then he nodded, did as he asked, breathed in as best as he could, coughed. Rolled his eyes.

"That helps…thanks. I feel better already." Kid was hurting, putting on a tough front, building walls again. Trent could see them coming up brick by brick.

He sighed, moved back to the table, caught Jason's eye over the couch, saw Ray frowning, probably wondering how his own interaction with Cay would go. '_Welcome_ _to_ _the_ _club_', he thought childishly.

"Where is everyone?"

The medic looked down sharply, wasn't expecting to be addressed by the kid.

Clay raised a swollen brow, waited for an answer.

"Sonny and Brock went to wind down, see to Cerb, Jason and Ray are around."

"Blackburn?"

"Not here yet. Was a delay."

"He still coming?"

Trent nodded. "When he's done. Will be late."

"Good. Need to talk to him 'fore I conk out again. Thanks for the check." Clay decided he was done making small talk with Trent and pushed to the front of the couch, arm across his middle. "Bathroom." He said, before the medic asked. Trent half stood, hesitated, watched Clay tried to pull himself upright. Kid was stubborn as heck.

"Hey." Jason came in, putting Trent out of his misery and helping Clay stand.

"Easy."

Ray followed into the room at a slower pace.

"How you feeling, Spense?" Ray asked.

"I'm good."

"Sure look like it." The 2IC took the single seat across from the couch. Clay ignored him, looked up at Jason, eyes pleading for escape. Jase conceded, let him lead.

"I don't care what, but you're eating something, taking those meds and getting your skinny ass to bed soon as you're done." His tone brooked no argument.

Clay being Clay, nodded, grit his teeth, pushed his luck. "I'm also taking that shower."

"I'll make you a deal." Jase told him. "Eat, take your meds, and after, I'll let you grab a quick one." Clay huffed, agreed. He knew which battles to fight with his Boss.

Jason could feel the slight tremble in his frame, didn't call him on it. He let him in the bathroom, left him to it, waited outside the door. Thought about how awkward this whole mess was, wished everything hadn't gone down like it had, paced. He felt bad for the guys, felt bad for Clay, didn't know what was gonna play out, _how_…decided to wait and see.

Trent was in the kitchen when they got there a few minutes later. Clay tensed, Jason felt it ripple trough him, didn't know what to say to the kid to get him to listen to his sorry brothers. Clay could take the space they gave him and turn it into another place to hide. With his history, it would be easy to hear the words and forgo their true meaning. His brothers had made a mistake, but Clay was still fortifying his fortress, keeping them out. Didn't have to look too deep to know Clay thought he was the enemy, that he was protecting them from himself. Jason cursed Ash Spenser for ever making the kid feel he wasn't worth it, and for his team for setting him back two steps by reinforcing his mindset with distrust.

While Jason pulled out a chair, made him sit, Trent placed two slices of warmed pizza on a paper plate on front of Clay, the custard next to it, spoon on top. Didn't ask him to pick, or to eat. Quietly left his pills on the side, a glass of water and a half glass of milk next to it. He knelt down without a word, waited for Clay to see what he was doing, to allow him to, before placing an ice pack on his ribs and pulling his shirt over it. Stood up, turned to Jason. "He takes that shower make sure the water ain't too hot. Won't do no good he passes out in there. Be on the couch you need me."

"Trent?" Clay swallowed, coughed, sighed tiredly, shifted the ice pack with one hand, held his head with the other. "Sorry for being an ass to you. Thanks."

Trent and Jason passed a look between them, Jason squeezed the back of Clay's neck in encouragement. "I'll make up your bed in the meantime, you finish up here."

_Finish_ _up_…_talking_ _to_ _Trent_, _eating_, _whatever_ _he_ _had_ _to_ _do_.

"I'm the one who's sorry." Trent started gruffly. "Don't you dare apologize to me." He told him, sitting down on the chair across even before Jason was gone. "I shouldn't have read your messages in the first place. Shouldn't have went to Ray with it, shoulda come to you instead of jumping to conclusions." He wiped his mouth, looked him in the eyes. Doing feelings wasn't easy for them, but he needed to be honest if he wanted Clay to believe he truly meant it. He pinched at the edge of the table cloth, rolled a loose thread over his forefinger, tugged.

"I'm sorry Clay, for how I made you feel. We're brothers, care for each other, would die for each other, but I know you a year, knew Emma a few. Didn't know what to make of what I saw. I know you can take care of yourself, but she's a kid. I…misunderstood, got angry, made you feel like hell, and I hate that you won't accept my help because of it, that you won't ask for it when you need it."

Could have been the light, could have been hunger, maybe even the headache that he was trying to hide, but Clay felt his eyes burn. Shaking his head, Clay dropped it in his hands, emotion bubbling up inside of him, making it difficult to face his brother. "I painted a nice big bullseye on all of you, you weren't wrong to not trust me. Trouble follows me Trent, and now it's gonna get you all killed."

"That's not true." The medic argued. "You almost died trying to make sure we had a chance to get out. How could we not trust that?"

"Wouldn't have had a reason to misjudge if there wasn't something you already judged. I am my father's son, Trent. Gonna take you all out with me yall get to close. Best keep it as is, do your job, let me do mine. I'll ask for help I need it. Promise."

Trent cursed himself inwardly for thinking like that before. The Ash Spenser genes were limited to hair color and height, otherwise the two weren't alike at all. Kid already resigned himself to die alone, Ash, the coward, would have been the only one left alive.

"Nuh uh, not happening. We're a team, in it together. What happened, what could, that ain't on you. It's on them, the one's tryna hide whatever it is they think you uncovered. You were doing the right thing, and we'll be standing right behind you no matter what."

Clay didn't respond. Guilt was a thing like that. No matter how much you tried to assuage it, there was always one more thing to feel guilty for.

"Kid? We'd do anything for you, don't ever doubt that." Trent stood, went around the table and crouched in front of him. Made sure he had Clay's attention. "You may be Ash Spenser's son, but you're nothing like him. What you did just now...when you realized what you were doing and put a stop to it? That's what we all should have done. Not sayin' you're an ass, I deserved it, but you tried to make it right with me immediately, and that's a lesson I won't forget." Trent reached for his arm, squeezed gently, "Thank you brother."

Clay, not trusting himself to speak, cleared his throat, nodded, and reached for the pizza. He took a small bite, chewed, thought about what Trent said, wondered if he hadn't over reacted about the whole thing…was he even allowed to feel that way when they were right?

He was at fault, he didn't doubt it, hadn't gone to them because he couldn't betray Emma, didn't help that Jase was in the loop. But Trent was wrong, he hadn't tried to fix anything with his brothers when he knew they were mad. He'd been holding onto the hope that they would understand that whatever he was dealing with, he could handle it, that he was a decent enough human being to not abuse Jason's daughter, that he'd had a valid reason…but when had hope ever been his friend? They'd done like everyone had in the past, put him in a box labeled '_dysfunctional_, _broken_, _not_ _to_ _be trusted_', and it'd hurt just like it always did. It friggn' hurt. Even though he blamed himself, it still. Friggn'. Hurt. _Dammit_!

He missed Brian so badly right now. Wondered if he would have done the same had he seen what the guys did…thought maybe he'd have sided with him, knowing him longer than Emma, or maybe he'd have screwed up some by now like he'd done with Stella, and maybe Brian would have also assumed he was talking advantage of a young girl because he couldn't do anything right...

This was too raw, too fresh, and he couldn't pretend otherwise. It had shaken him, his belief, his worth. He faced his flaws daily when he looked in the mirror. Couldn't stand to see them reflected in his brothers' eyes too.

The pizza might as well have been cardboard, was hard to swallow. Even after Trent passed him the milk. He gave up halfway, took his custard and ate it instead, grateful that Jason had thought to bring it with.

Trent didn't interrupt his thoughts, didn't force interaction or more talking, let him finish, handed him his pills, water. Texted Lisa to bring more jello, some yoghurt, custard when she got here.

After a long while, he asked, "How's the nausea?"

"Holding."

"Us?" Trent hedged, cautious, uncertain, hopeful.

"We're good." He breathed. "Blackburn's late."

"You can see him in the morning, Clay."

Clay was stiff and achy, needed that bed like twenty minutes ago, needed that shower yesterday. His chest was tight, had a niggling cough that kept jarring his ribs and rattling his head. The couch hadn't helped that, nor his back. That hurt too. He felt wrung out, so exhausted from doing nothing but sleep. Needed his head clear, in the game. Needed to call Emma, make sure she was alright. Needed so many damned things…He dropped his head on his folded hand and closed his eyes. Right now, he needed a minute.

Trent had watched the flicker of emotions pass across his face, saw the hurt in his eyes as he tried to piece together these last few weeks, as he tried to figure out where he still fit between them, and he felt all the more horrible for it. They'd taken a SEAL, a trained operative, one of the best snipers alive, a brother, and turned him from self assured, sarcastic and fearless to a man about to reach his breaking point. Kid was still blaming himself for their behavior, and that was a no go zone.

He needed to speak to his brothers. The faster they got to Clay, the faster he'd have to accept that they weren't going anywhere, that they were there for him, would always be until they breathed their last. It would take some work to build the bridges they almost burned, but they'd do it. He saw his brother cough, winced with him, waited for him to say something, but the kid leaned over his arm on the table and closed his eyes. At least the cough was still dry. He'd start panicking if it wasn't. Clay held himself tensely even though his position looked relaxed. The meds were yet to work, and this was an even worse place to fall asleep than the couch. He checked his text, one having come through.

_'Eric will be here in 5. Clay up for_ _it?_'

It was from Ray.

_'Not a chance. It'll have to keep.'_

_'He alright?'_

'_Will_ _be_. _Sleepy_.'

A thumbs up emoji followed and Trent tucked the phone away.

"It's bedtime for you, bud." He tapped lightly on Clay's cheek, got the expected 'hmm', kid opened the one eye that wasn't squished and mumbled to himself.

"You can shower in the morning. Stink for a night, who cares." Trent chuckled when he complained and said as much. Jason pitched up in time to see the medic holding Clay, arm around his waist, ice pack between his fingers, about to walk him to bed.

"I got you, brother." Trent supported Clay easily, kid had his eyes half opened, waved lazily at Jase.

"I know Tr'nt." Clay assured him, made Trent smile, the reaction spoke volumes to Jason. It was a huge step, but it was in the right direction.

He mouthed, '_Emma's_ _room_', and waited for them to pass, feeling a sense of relief that the two had managed to talk, that Clay was allowing Trent to handle him.

"You knew..." Clay accused, bit back a cough while turning over his shoulder to glare at Jason, making him chuckle.

"Yeah, I knew you wouldn't last, surprised you made it this long. Shower will still be there when you wake up." He moved Clay's hair off his forehead, was pleased to note he wasn't running a fever 'cos that cough needed to go. "Need some help getting the baby to bed, Trent?"

Clay huffed, stuck his tongue out at Jason, then snorted, a hint of mischief in his smirk, "Night dad."

Jase, caught off guard at the feeling those words brought in him, but gaining traction quickly returned with, 'night kiddo'.

Trent laughed out loud at the suckered look on his boss's face, and feeling a whole lot lighter, he helped his little brother to bed as Jason went to let heir Commander in.

_**Hope you liked it xxx Next update in a day or two :) Thanks for reading :D **_


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